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N.A.Rynin

NASA

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INTERPLANETARY FLIGHT
AND COMMUNICATION

Volume I, No. t

Dreams, Legends, and Early Fantasies

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TRANSLATED FROM RUSSIAN

Published for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

and the National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C.

by the Israel Program for Scientific Translations

TECH UBRARY KAFB, NM

ODb^sai

N.A. Rynin

INTERPLANETARY FLIGHT
AND COMMUNICATION

(Mezhplanetnye soobshcheniya)

Volume I. No. 1

DREAMS, LEGENDS, AND EARLY FANTASIES

fMechty, legendy i pervye fantazii)

Leningrad 1928

Translated from Russian

Israel Program for Scientific Translations
Jerusalem 1970

NASA TT F-640
TT70-50111

Published Pursuant to an Agreement with

THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

and
THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, WASHINGTON, D. C.

Israel Program for Scientific Translations Ltd.

IPST Cat. No. 5812

Translated by R. Lavoott
Edited by M. Lowe

Printed in Jerusalem by Keter Press

Available from the
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Technical Information Service
Springfield, Va. 22151

XIl/16

Table of Contents

Page

From the Author 1

Foreword 2

Introduction 3

CHAPTER I. Dreams of Conquering Outer Space 8

CHAPTER II. Legends and Flights on Birds 22

CHAPTER III. Cyrano de Bergerac's Flights to the Moon and Sun 40

CHAPTER IV. Flying Horses 49

CHAPTER V. Flying on Supernatural Beings 57

CHAPTER VI. Flights in the Bible and Occult Writings 62

CHAPTER VII. Flights on Celestial Bodies 84

CHAPTER VIII. Flights on Aircraft 93

CHAPTER IX. Technical Design 103

Conclusion 113

FROM THE AUTHOR

In undertaking this project the author was fully aware of the difficulties
involved. The magnitude of this task and the fact that it borders on many
of the exact and applied sciences on the one hand, and the history of the
development of mankind on the other, render the pursuit beyond the capacity
of one man. Therefore, the reader must look upon this work as an initial
endeavor to provide an encyclopedia of interplanetary navigation. Although
the entire project is ready for publication, material conditions preclude its
appearance in toto, and for this reason it will be issued in separate volumes
independent of each other but linked by a common title and a common idea.

The present volume is the first. A total of ten is envisaged and will be
published when deemed feasible. Readers interested in the idea of inter-
planetary navigation in general, and in the contents noted by the author in
particular, could do yeoman's service for the publication of the remaining
volumes by acclaiming this, the first volume, and those to follow.

CONTENTS

General title: Interplanetary Flight and Communication

Book 1 : Interplanetary Navigation in the Fantasies of Novelists

Vol. 1: Dreams, Legends, and Early Fantasies

Vol.2: Spaceships in Modern Novels

Vol.3: Radiant Energy
Book 2: Jet Engines — Theory, History, Technology

Vol. 4: The History and Theory of Jet Engines

Vol. 5: Rockets in Interplanetary Space
Book 3: Superaviation and Superartillery

Vol.5: [sic]: Superaviation and Superartillery

Vol. 6: Atmospheric and Gravitational Envelopes
Book 4: Interplanetary Navigation in Scientific Projects

Vol. 7: K. E. Tsiolkovskii and his Rocket Ship

Vol. 8: The Work of Esnault-Pelterie, Lebedev, Goddard, Oberth,
Hohmann, Lorenz, Shershevskii, and others

Vol. 9: Theory of the Flight of Rocket Ships

Vol.10: Elements of Astronomy in their Application to Interplanetary
Navigation. Bibliography and Chronology.
All comments referring to the present first volume, and all requests for
the shipment of this and ensuing volumes should be addressed to:

Nikolai Alekseevich Rynin
Apartment 25, 37 Kolomenskaya ul.
Leningrad.

Epigraph

One of the most frequently encountered human
errors is the idea that the imagination possesses more
powerful wings than reason. In order to be persuaded
of the opposite, a comparison of the boldest poetic
fictions of the starry firmaments of antiquity and what
modern science has conceived is sufficient.

Max Nordman

"Journey around the Universe"

FOREWORD

The aspirations to achieve new discoveries on earth are common to all
ages and all peoples. Some are drawn to seek these discoveries by the
spirit of adventure and sport, but more often than not it is the desire to
enrichthe store of human knowledge and to ease and improve people's lives.

When the earth was comparatively unknown, a host of expeditions set
forth to explore it. In 1200 B.C. the Phoenicians, though apprehensive of
monsters of the sea and evil spirits, sailed to faraway places and discovered
new shores in their desire to augment their knowledge and build up their
trade. After the Phoenicians came the Norwegian Ericson, the Venetian
Marco Polo, Balboa, Walter Raleigh, Cortez and Pizarro, Columbus, Henry
Hudson, Baffin, Livingstone, Stanley, and in our time Captain Scott, Nansen,
Peary, and Amundsen. These explorers uncovered new lands, blazed new
trails, and extended the limit of areas accessible by both land and water.

In past decades man has conquered the atmosphere and large aircraft
now permit us a glimpse of places which could not be reached by land or sea.

Flights over the Sahara, the dense African forests, the Siberian taiga,
the Indochina swamps, volcanos, the Himalayas, the Arctic icebergs,
Amundsen's flight over the North Pole, flights in aircraft over the ocean —
all this combined is now accessible to man and will soon satiate his ever-
inquiring mind. The earth will soon be congested with men, and their eyes
will then focus on the sky, the planets, and the stars. For scoi-es of years
they have contemplated this. Long they have been studying the movements and
properties of celestial bodies, but it is only recently that bold, scientifically -
backed dreams to penetrate the "abode of the gods" have emerged.

The first to enter this abode were the poets and novelists through their
imaginary voyages, and then — very slowly, to be sure — the scientists began
to consider the possibilities of interplanetary flights, to be joined later by
the technicians.

Thus the history of interplanetary navigation, a feat impracticable for the
time being, has acquired a respectable past, in addition to masses of
material. This is a history of fantasy, of bold, often absurd projects, of
exciting deductions and broad anticipations.

To provide an outline of this history, to systematize it by years and even
centuries, to sum up work accomplished and on this basis to set future
objectives and determine the conditions whereby man could detach himself
from earth and be carried into interplanetary space is the goal of our work.

We shall not forget that reality very often surpasses the most vivid
imagination — the magic carpets appear like fairy tales for children in
comparison with the aerial colossuses of our day, and the sorcerers and
witches are mere child's play compared with human power over steam,
gas, and electz'icity .

Epigraph

We will vaft away in rhe brilliance
of fiery worlds and fly along all the
trails of interstellat clouds.

N.Morozov

"Zvczdnye pesni, " Rook 1, p. 51

INTRODUCTION

The history of the development of the idea of interplanetary comnnunication
comprises two primary trends:

1. The transmission of thought in outer space.

2. The transmission of material bodies in outer space.

The transmission of thought through conventional symbols was envisaged
in two ways: light signals and radio transmission.

The first, method implies the installation on earth of large-dimensioned
signs sharply distinguished on a specific background, visible by day and
luminous at night, which could be seen and distinguished from outer space.
The second method consists in transmitting powerful radio waves (or
possibly others)* into outer space that could be received by interplanetai'y
vehicles or by inhabitants of other worlds. The ti'ansmission of material
bodies to planets is possible in two ways: without living beings — people — or
with them.

FIGURE 1. Scheme of flight of an interplanetary ship

The flight of a missile or unmanned interplanetary vehicle is easily
accomplished since it is possible to impart to such a vehicle greater
acceleration at take-off or deceleration during descent, which would be
dangerous for man. Rockets and gun-fired projectiles would serve as
equipment for such a flight. A basic condition for the realization of their

If the Heaviside layer encircling the earth does not let radio waves pass.

flight is a relatively low speed in the dense layers of the atmosphere and a
high speed beyond it. In this context, staged rockets or gun-fired projectiles
with their own jet-propelled vehicles that commence operation at certain
altitudes after launching are suitable.

The flight of a manned vehicle is more complex and requires the
fulfillment of a multitude of conditions. Let us look at such a flight (Figure 1)
in its most schematic form from earth (E) to planet (L) along trajectory
abc, which will be very complex in relation to the form and characteristics
of the planets, their movements, solar attraction, vehicle speed, its flight
direction, gravity effect of other celestial bodies, M for example. The
dotted circles in Figure 1 represent the boundary of planetary atmospheres
and the lines 11, 22, 33, the zones where the attraction of the planets is in
equilibrium: 11 — between E and M, 22 — between L and M, and 33 — between
E and L. At the same time it should be borne in mind that the trajectories
of celestial bodies E, M, and L, like that of vehicle S, need not lie in a plane,
and the problem may be solved in three-dimensional space as a function
of time determining the conditions of motion of all of the bodies.
First, let us examine the flight conditions.

The launching site on earth should be selected with an eye to the purpose
of the flight; the site determines the direction of the flight, i.e., in the sense
of earth's movement and its rotation, or the opposite.

Flight speed calls for attention. At a low speed there is less struggle
with atmospheric resistance (atmospheric envelope), though more with
terrestrial gravity (gravitational envelope); on the other hand, the vehicle
pierces the envelope of gravity more quickly at high speed but far less so
the envelope of air resistance. For this reason an intermediate and
appropriate speed must be selected which, after departure from the earth's
atmosphere, will increase to the speed indispensable for further free flight
(without the work of bursts) in outer space under the effect of gravity and
in order to keep the craft from falling back to earth. This maximum speed
must be around 9 — 11 km/sec. The gradual acceleration by the vehicle
from the most suitable to the maximum speed should not be dangerous for
the passengers and could be around 30 — 40m/sec . The most suitable
speed also affects flight direction.

To prevent the vehicle in free flight from deviating from course because
of the gravitational effects of asteroids encountered, additional velocities
of different directions, which also require energy consumption, must be
imparted to the craft en route.

The form of the vehicle depends upon the conditions of its flight. While
flying in the atmosphere, its form must present the smallest resistance to
movement in the air; this would come through experience (perhaps it shoul
be cigar- shaped). If, in order to obtain the most suitable speed, the vehicle
describes a spiral trajectory around the earth gradually drawing away fron
the surface, perhaps wings and rudders like those of an airplane might be
added. When the vehicle leaves the boundary of the atmosphere, its form
is unimportant, and since passengers in free flight lose the sensation of gravi
and there is no difference between "above" and "below" for them, i.e., .
they will be floating or flying in the atmosphere within the vehicle, in' such
a case the vehicle might be of globular form like the terrestrial bodies.

Equipment within the vehicle will be very complex. We will list only th
main items required for life and for control of the spacecraft. For life.

people require devices that restore the supplies of oxygen for breathing,
absorb and utilize products of excretion of the body, restore products of
nutrition, provide the sensation of gravity (for instance, by rotation) until
the passengers become acclimatized, coolers for excessive heating on the
sunny side of the vehicle and heaters for use when cooling occurs from
interplanetary space on the shady side. One mast not forget the special
coolers and absorbers of acceleration during fast take-off from earth, as
well as pressure suits for exit from the vehicle during free flight. It is
also necessary to bear in mind the screens or glass protecting the body
and organism from the destructive (ultraviolet, for example) rays of space.

Control instruments for the vehicle would be as follows: measuring
instruments of speed (tachometers) and acceleration (accelerometers),
indicators of distance covered and time, finders of the astronomical position
of the vehicle, warning signals of approaching asteroids and meteorites,
instruments preventing gyration of the vehicle in space (gyroscopes and
fuses), etc. After passing through the neutral zone between the planets,
where their gravitational forces are equal, the vehicle starts to fall toward
another planet and accelerates its flight; for this reason in descent the flight
must be "braked" by counter blasts or by using the resisting force of the
atmosphere of this planet; the wings may be pulled out and, gradually
describing a spiral around the planet, the vehicle enters the increasingly
denser atmospheric layers and, finally, lands on its surface.

Let us proceed now to the main part of the interplanetary vehicle, its
engine and the source of energy required for the flight. Three possible
cases should be distinguished here:

1) the energy source is located on the earth and the energy is
transmitted from earth to the vehicle;

2) the energy source and its supplies are in the vehicle;

3) the vehicle derives the energy from outer space.

The first case, i.e., when the vehicle is provided with energy from earth,
means telecommunication of radiant energy (for example, radio, if the
Heaviside layer does not interfere); this theory and its wide practical
application already have their place now. But thus far there is only the
Yamato project (radioship) for the large scale necessary to move an
interplanetary vehicle. Energy obtained in this way may be used for the
decomposition of chemical substances on board — water to gases for example—
whose explosion will provide the reaction force capable of propelling the
vehicle .

The second case presupposes the presence in the vehicle itself of supplies
of energy in the form of explosive matter which then renders the vehicle
independent. As explosives, for example, liquid hydrogen and oxygen might
serve, which would be transformed into gas and produce the detonating gas
that will provide the reaction or exhaust during the explosion that is
capable of propelling the vehicle into space. Thus in this case the energy
of the explosion is transformed into exhaust velocity and the engine will
be a jet engine.

The weight of the explosive material will markedly exceed the weight of
the passengers, food products, equipment and hull of the ship, depending
on the distance and destination of the flight and the type of explosive.
Therefore, for the purpose of reducing the dead weight together with the
fuel consumed, it will be helpful to jettison the tanks and receptacles in which
it was contained.

A task for future technologists would be the invention of an explosive
matter which would yield at the smallest weight the greatest energy during
explosion. The decomposition of radium atoms or some other atoms
would solve the problem if heavy and cumbersome equipraent and
large quantities of power were not required for their decomposition.

The third case, when the vehicle derives energy from outer space, offers
the following possibilities: a) utilization of the force of gravitational
attraction, i.e., attraction of celestial bodies when feasible for the direction
of the flight of the interplanetary vehicle, b) utilization of radiant energy
of the sun, which provides thermal, light, and other rays. Thermal rays
could be used for chemical reactions and decomposition of various matter into
gas whose explosion yields the required reaction. Light rays could bring
radiation pressure to bear on special large screens around the vehicle and
impart to it the repulsive force; this is a complex problem and technically
difficult to realize; finally, it may be that there are other kinds, still
unknown, of radiant energy in outer space that are more powerful and whose
discovery may be at hand; then they, too, could be used for interplanetary
travel.

We will now indicate the obstacles standing in the way of rocket flights
at high altitudes and in outer space.

1 . The problem of cooling the working part of the vehicle in which the
fuel explosions occur has not been solved. In modern internal-combustion
engines, the material of the cylinder walls operates nearly at the limit
stresses, transmitting through each square meter of wall 250,000 units

of heat per hour at a temperature of 800°C, at a pressure of 1.2 atmospheres
and a gas exhaust speed of around 150m/sec. In a rocket engine we have
to deal with a temperature of 2, 500°C, pressure of 20 atmospheres and a gas
exhaust speed of 5,000 m/sec; heat losses in the rocket come to about 30%
of the entire fuel supply if cooling is at all possible with the application
of liquid hydrogen and oxygen. The massive quantity of coolers that must
be taken on board will markedly lower the payload of the rocket.

2. Another problem as yet unsolved is the more rational arrangement
of the combustion chamber of the rocket and the form of the nozzle through
which the combustion products escape to the outside, i.e., if the form of the
nozzle should be parabolic or based on the Laval nozzle, or any other.

3. The problem of rocket stability in flight must also be solved. Even
for artillery shells, whose speed is considerably smaller, this problem is
very coinplicated and not fully solved.

4. Taking into account all losses of power, the current types of fuel,
even the most powerful (liquid hydrogen and oxygen, for example), have such
a low payload factor that for the rocket ship to transport one man

to the moon would call for a rocket of enormous dimensions. Therefore,

a new type of fuel must be discovered which for a much smaller weight would

produce much more energy.

5. The design of a jet engine and ways and .means of storing
fuel have yet to be worked out.

6. The problem of the influence of high and prolonged acceleration on
man must be examined since it is expedient to increase acceleration of the
rocket upon takeoff; the human being cannot well endure an acceleration that
exceeds by two to three times the acceleration of terrestrial gravity.

7. Finally, a variety of problems arises on such matters as flight
control of the rocket, navigation, cooling in outer space, landing on earth,
etc. Scientists and technicians are challenged to find the solutions to
these problems; with the joint cooperation of many, an interplanetary
vehicle will come into existence and man will detach himself from earth
and fly into outer space — in other words, he will be bringing to fruition
that which is only dreamt of now by novelists and which scientists
have only recently started to investigate.

Epigraph

The human mind cannot devise a non-
existent thing; the impossible cannot be
born in the mind; every idea, however
strange ic may appear, exists some^'herc,
othcrwisi.' the mind would be unable to put
it into thought,

"Gnev bozhii, " part I, p. 59 V.Kryzhanovskaya

Chapter I

DREAMS OF CONQUERING OUTER SPACE

The conquest of outer space will not be achieved in one day. First there
will be jet-propelled planes, then instrument-loaded rockets launched at
high speeds to a height of several thousand kilometers, and on the return of these
the data recorded will have to be studied in order to determine flight
conditions at such altitudes.

Subsequently, there will come manned rockets, soaring higher and higher
until one day they will succeed in flying around the moon. And then, aided
by the reaction resulting from reversed thrust, it will be possible to land
on the moon.

After the moon will come flights to the orbits of Venus, Mercury or Mars"
or its satellites, to circle these planets as their satellite or even to
land on their surface. With sufficient supplies of fuel, the return would be
made in the same way.

ly r£f'-,, '■ -'«•';.••. ..'•■*•«* ■,;-■«■ ..--> i^ ' -.i .fS.'iS< ,. • .-. ■

FIGURE 2. A flying rocket station near the moon

A flight to Jupiter calls for an enormous amount of fuel, and a rocket
for one passenger plus the necessary equipment would be no smaller than
an ocean liner. To descend on Jupiter and then ascend is extremely
difficult in view of its huge mass; a speed exceeding 172 times the speed
of gas expansion would be required and in that case the ratio of the masses
of the full and empty rocket would have to be 4.7 trillion.

The moon could be used as a fueling station for interplanetary flights;
here, a plant exploiting solar energy would produce the required material.
Since a flight around Jupiter without descending on it would consume one
and a half times more fuel than a flight to the moon, it would be possible
to fill up on the moon and proceed further.

Finally, an artificial station could be constructed at the boundary of earth
and lunar attraction where fuel from the moon would be supplied and where
rockets departing from the earth for other planets could stop for refueling
(Figure 2).

FK.UI^ 3. Space flight station (French caricature)

Similar voyages from planet to planet (Figure 3) are depicted in humorous
form by the French novelists Le Faure and Graffigny in their novel
"Aventures extraordinaires d 'un savant russe." Actually, this idea is not
so inconceivable. Interplanetary rockets to which passengers arriving
from earth would transfer would be based at this artificial station. Similar
vehicles flying in the sphere of gravity of any of the planets could release
small rockets for the passengers to descend onto the planet.

The order in which the moon would-be explored would be as follows:
The first passengers would have to try to find ice (H2O). On reporting
this to earth, they would receive the necessary equipment to set up a station
for the conversion of solar energy and for the decomposition of ice into
oxygen and hydrogen which would then liquefy and thus produce the fuel
needed for rockets. Simultaneously, in the absence of air on the moon, a
hut equipped with artificial air would be set up there. Solar devices would
furnish energy for heating and illuminating the hut (Figure 4). With the
passing of time, parts of a large interplanetary vehicle would arrive on the
moon from the earth for assembling, and from there it could fly on to Mars.
A vehicle of this kind could help in setting up a similar station on one of the
satellites of Mars. In order to conserve energy, an intermediate rocket
station at the boundary of lunar and earth gravity would be in full

time operation. The most feasible spot for this station (according to
Waller) is at a distance of about 6 terrestrial radii in order for it to
revolve around the earth in the plane of the terrestrial equator with the
same period of revolution about the earth as the period of the earth's
revolution around its axis.

FIGURE 4. Solar engines on the moon

Oberth proposes the use of a parachute during the vehicle's descent onto
the earth, and M. Waller suggests gas reaction. In Figure 5, both these methods
are shown. Hohmann and Tsander suggest that wings be attached to the
rocket for gliding.

According to the degree of development of interplanetary navigation and
increase of emigration from earth, it will be possible to set up groups of
interplanetary stations in outer space, to rotate around the earth as its
satellites.

Later, these stations could be transferred from orbiting the earth to
orbiting the sun, thus forming a rocket ring or belt. K. Tsiolkovskii suggests
such a swarm of rockets and disposes it at a distance of 5 /2 terrestrial
radii from its surface.

In his article "Monism of the Universe"* (Kaluga, 1925), Tsiolkovskiiforesees
the possibility of flight in outer space and believes in man's mastery of this
space in the future. Here are his thoughts in this context: "The technology
of the future will provide the possibility of overcoming the earth's gravity

" "Monizm vselennoi."

and of journeying through the entire solar system. Of visiting and studying
all its planets. Of encircling the sun with artificial dwelling places
borrowing material from the asteroids, the planets and their satellites.

"Around the sun, in the vicinity of the asteroids, millions of millions
of beings —descendants of emigrants from earth— will grow and advance.
A multifarious race of perfect beings will emerge, well adapted for life
in various atmospheres, vai-ying gravity, on various planets, in a vacuum or
in explosive gas, taking nourishment or sui-viving without it — living only
by the rays of the sun, creatures enduring both the heat and the cold.

"The most predominant and consummate type of organism will be that
which lives in the ether and feeds on the power of the sun.

FIGURE 5. Descent of an interplanetary vehicle towards the
earth by parachute and gas reaction

"After populating our solar system, other solar systems of our Milky
Way will start to be populated. Man is detached from earth with difficulty.
It will be far easier to overcome solar attraction by way of free movement
in the ether and the enormous quantity of radiant energy of the whole sun,
which man can exploit. Earth appears as the point of departure for the
settling of perfect beings on the Milky Way.

"What we are privileged to anticipate from our planet holds true vis-a-
vis other planets.

"The beginnings of life were discernible at one time on all planets with
atmospheres. By force of circumstance life on some of these planets
blossomed more luxuriantly, more rapidly, bestowed mental and technical

powers on its creatures and became the source of higher life for the other
planets of the universe. These currents encountered each other, without
impeding each other they settled our Milky Way, and then others, too. . . "

Kinderman's dreams of flying to Saturn

In 1748, in his three-volume natural history, Kinderman arrived at the
idea that at some time in the future it will be possible to travel to the planet
Jupiter to bring back plants in the same manner as bringing back "monkeys
and peacocks from Asia" at present.

Jules Verne, in his fascinating novel "De la terre a la lune" speaks of
interplanetary travel through the lips of his hero, Michel Ardent, who claims
thus: "Some narrow-minded people maintain that man is condemned to
remain within the confines of a known closed circle and will never be able
to ascend from the earth and become acquainted with other planets. That
is not true! I am convinced that we shall reach the moon and neighboring
planets and that we will communicate with them as readily as Liverpool
now communicates with New York. Moreover, we will even jump from our
solar system to a second and from there to a third and so on. In other
words, we will be carried along the waves of eternity, along the oceans of
ether in precisely the same manner in which we are carried along the
oceans of water. Distance is a relative conception. There will come a
time when this conception will be incomprehensible because distances will
no longer exist."

Captain Ferber, who dedicated his entire life to aviation and became one
of its first victims (he was killed on 22 September, 1909), declared that
"conquering the air" was but a step in the direction of conquering outer
space. Those sharing this opinion were Esnault-Pelterie, Arshdakon,
and others.

A.S.Shor, in "Aeronautics in Life"- (St. Petersburg, 1912, p. 124), draws
a picture of people from earth settling in outer space and their conditions
of life. He describes the development of radio engineering which permits
them to communicate with earth from their space vehicles, and foresees
the possibility of utilizing the power of solar rays for the renewal of
nutritive matter. Further, he dreams of flights to other planets and
exploiting them for man's needs. These thoughts are also communicated
by K. Tsiolkovskii in his book "Outside Earth. "*>;<

Max Waller, in his book "Flight to Outer Space, "t contemplates
potential flights to outer space by rocket ships as follows:

"When the moon is conquered with the help of rockets and transformed
into an intermediate station, then it will be possible to attain those cosmic
velocities required to reach Mercury, Mars, and Venus. Only Jupiter and
Saturn will be avoided in view of their enormous masses. But would it not
be wonderful indeed to draw near the bewitchingly girdled Saturn, if only to
join the dance of its moons?

"Would it not be delightful to sail through outer space chasing after
long-tailed comets?

■^ "Vozdukhoplavanie v zhizni."
•* "Vne zemli."
t "Der Vorstoss in den Weltenraum."

"Those of us who are still bound to earth's surface, who are lacking in
the possibilities of breaking away from the atmosphere surrounding the earth,
would say that the foregoing is an adequate, a fully adequate reward for our
endeavors; no.' exclaim those who have already voyaged to the boundary of
planetary orbits, it is inadequate, much too inadequate. We want, they say,
to penetrate the Milky Way. What do 4/2 billion kilometers separating us
from Neptune mean, what do cosmic velocities of 20, 50, or even 100 km/sec
needed to reach this giant meanl One would beconae a grizzled old man
before returning from such a journey. This is a snail's pace which could
satisfy only the sorry beings of the 20th century.

"If electrons in cathode tubes achieve a speed of 1,000 to 2,000 km/sec
and more, why cannot people move at the same speed?

"And finally, why cannot we achieve the speed of light at 300,000 km /sec?
Once having achieved this, in 1 .5 seconds we would fly past the moon, in
8.5 minutes past the sun, and in 4 hours we would reach Neptune.

"Why should we view as madness the idea that people will be able to move
as fast as the- speed of light? When this time arrives, they will skim through
the universe as fast as a ray of light which up to now has been the only one
to bring us tidings of worlds and bodies hovering in the depths of the
universe. What would people have achieved if they had then the right to
count themselves conquerors of worlds, similar to the gods? Scarcely
anything, since we know a few things now that should cool our expectations.
Even light takes 4.3 years to penetrate to us from the closest fixed star;
from the other suns that we count as our closest satellites in outer space,
a ray arrives on earth in 10 to 15 years. Only a handful of stars find
themselves close to our planet, while the others soar in far more distant
spaces so that to obtain greetings to earth from them, a ray of light must
travel for hundreds and thousands of years. What is the advantage of
moving through the universe with the speed of light? The traveler would
be surrounded by unbounded emptiness in the course of months, years,
scores of years. Not only the difference between above and below would
lose its meaning but also the conception of time. And there are doubts
that people would really be able to see the stars.

" When we approach the source of sound in high-speed travel, the tone
increases; when we move away it decreases. The same occurs with light.
If we move in the direction of the light source, the waves appear to become
more frequent and the light obtains another color which corresponds to
shorter oscillations of the light wave. This reduction already becomes
noticeable at the speed of a ship's cannon-ball. What if the speed of the
motion gradually approaches the speed of light? Then the wavelengths
become infinitely small for the stars which we are approaching and
infinitely large for the stars we are leaving. In other words, we would be
unable to see these celestial bodies 1 When we leave earth behind at an
increasing speed, it becomes red and disappears; the other planets also
become red before disappearing. The sun becomes purple before it sets;
the stars on the route of our rapidly traveling vehicle become bluer and bluer
until finally they turn violet before they die away. Our eyes can no longer
perceive them, just as our ears cannot catch the sound of a whistle when it
is too high. At full speed equal to the speed of light we do not see a single
star in the firmament; behind us there is a frightening emptiness and only
sporadically will the stars traversing the direction of our vehicle flare up
into blue lights before disappearing.

"In vain would we race through outer space; the heavenly bodies would
sparkle only from an infinite distance, as stars scattered along the plane
crossing our path, but never permitting us a glance at those bodies close
to us and for which we are heading. We would never be able to see them,
for the moment we collided with them we would disintegrate into a billion
atoms. "

Einstein's theory of relativity is reflected in an original manner in
three books on interplanetary travel: A.Tolstoi's "Aelita," A. Yaroslavskii's
"Argonauts of the Universe, "* and Sofus Michaelis' "The Ship of Heaven." Here
are some excerpts from these books.

In "Aelita" (1923), Tolstoi give his conception of the relative
comprehension of time in a conversation between two of the major characters,
Los' and Gusev, which takes place on Mars, the second day after arrival
there from earth:

"After begging a cigarette, Los' lay down propping his head on his elbow.
He blew out puffs of smoke and smiled.

'Aleksei Ivanovich' — he asked — 'do you know how long it is since we
last ate?'

'Well, I had a potato before we left last night, Mstislav Sergeevich.
'My good friend, we haven't oaten for 23 to 24 days.'
'How long? '

'Yesterday was August 18 in St. Petersburg, and today it is September 11
down there. Isn't that simply marvelous I '

'For the life of me, Mstislav Sergeevich, I cannot understand what you
are saying.'

'I don't understand it too well myself. We left at 7. Now, as you will
see, it is 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Nineteen hours ago, we left earth by
this watch. And according to the watch I left in my workshop, about a month
has passed. Surely you have noticed— you are riding in a train, you are
sleeping, the train stops and you either awaken because of an unpleasant
sensation or you sleep but are uneasy. This is so because when the train
stops, your whole body slows dov/n. You are in a moving train and your
heart beats and your watch goes faster than if you were in a stationary
train. The difference is elusive because the speeds are very small. Our
flight is another matter. For half the journey we flew at nearly the speed
of light. Here the difference is already perceptible. The throbbing of the
h^art, the speed of the watch, the oscillation of particles in the body cells
have not changed in relation to each other; while we were flying in a vacuum
we blended with the aircraft, moved in the same rhythm. But if the speed of
the vehicle exceeds by 500,000 times the normal speed of body movement
on earth, then the speed of my heart beat, one throb per second — if we
calculate by the clock of the vehicle— has increased by 500,000 times, that
is, my heart during flight throbbed 500,000 times per second, reckoned by the
watch left behind in St. Petersburg. According to my heartbeat, the
movement of the chronometer in my pocket, and the feeling of my whole
body, we spent ten hours and forty minutes on our journey, which was in
actual fact ten hours and forty minutes, but according to the heartbeat of
the inhabitants of St. Petersburg and by the movement of the arrows on
the clock atop Petropavlovsk Cathedral, more than three weeks have passed.
Eventually it will be possible to construct a large vehicle, store in a half
year's supply of food, oxygen, and ultralyddite (explosives necessary for the

* Argonavty vselennoi,"

motion of an interplanetary vehicle — a rocket) and take off with the speed
of light for a half year in outer space. On his return home, the voyager
would find a new century on earth, meaning that one hundred years would
have passed there. '"

In his "Argonauts of the Universe" (Moskva-Leningrad, 1926),
A. Yaroslavskii describes the flight of three people in a radium propelled
ship (Yamato's conception) from earth to the moon; putting to use Einstein's
theory of relativity, he Introduces into his Utopian novel the element of
reducing the time obtained in rapid interplanetary travel.

The voyagers flying from earth to the inoon note by their watches that
19 hours 43 minutes 17.01 seconds have elapsed since their departure,
while according to earth time 3 months 1 day and 30 minutes have passed
from the moment they left earth up to their descent on the moon. The
author describes their reaction on learning of this difference via radio from
earth.

"So Einstein was right! Our flight is a visual demonstration of the
theory of relativity. We have stolen 3 months, 1 day and 30 minutes from
Timel . . That's as it should be: time, as our Lobachevskii, one of
Einstein's predecessors, so excellently put it, is only a movement to measure
other movements; it is always relative; there is no absolute time the same
for all; it depends upon speed: the faster the movement the shorter the
time; we rushed through space at an insane speed and three earth months
melted into 20 hours. . . But the most curious thing of all is what we have
gone through psychologically and physically in those 20 hours, and the
difference lies not only in the chronometer; my cheeks are smooth, do you
see? And yet I shaved before we took off; on earth in these three months
I would have had a thick beard. . . In all this time we have slept only once.

"If we had not been in a rocket but in the fantastic core of the French
physicist Langevin, a disciple of Einstein, and had been whisked away at
a speed of 250,000 km per second, for us it would have meant 2 years while
on earth 200 years would have passed."

Similar pronouncements on the relativity of time are put into the mouths
of the leading characters of the novel "The Ship of Heaven" by the Danish
writer Sofus Michaelis, which was published in Denmark in 1921 and
translated into Russian in 1827.

The conversation takes place between two Italians, Avanti (commander)
and Ercole Sabene, flying in an interplanetary ship together with other
people from earth to Mars.

"Ercole slowly unraveled the knots in his beclouded thoughts:

'Yes' — he said — 'we are shadows squeezed into this fantastic globe,
twisted into eternal darkness. Seemingly, we are dead. We no longer
breathe. We do not feel the blood coursing through our veins. We will not
feel life until we discover a new homeland, a new atmosphere for our lungs,
new ground for our legs, and a new time in which to reckon our lives! '

'How right you are' — said Avanti. — 'We find ourselves in a state of
transition. We no longer calculate time according to earth. We installed
Martian clocks which cannot be used yet. For the first time we find
ourselves in the power of timeless eternity. We are partaking of the fourth
dimension, imbibing the intoxication of an ecstasy of which we had on earth
only a vague, fragmentary premonition. And you perceive, if only for a
moment, that time is an earthly conception, non-existent in its way, a
planetary hallucination. We are accustomed to count off the morning.

evening, the days, the middle of the year, the new year, to divide up our
existence into pitiful compartments using solar years, not considering that time
is a subjective delusion, an eternal expansiveness that permits one's whole
life to be compressed into one moment or to stretch that moment to
eternity. We could drag out time in endless and hellish boredom or cram
one second with the feeling of eternity. We though that we were living in
a world with a unique time, that there was a normal measurement of time,
that the tempo of the whole universe was one, that there was one common
pulse. And, in actual fact, nothing in the universe occurs simultaneously.
It would suffice to open a window of our ship into the nocturnal heavens
for the stars to tell us that time is only a ticking mechanism in our hearts.
All the celestial mechanisms — the planets and the stars — go their several
ways and no earthly Emperor Charles V can command them to go one way.
All of time outside us is only waves of light running towards us from
immeasurable distances; we measure dizzy concepts — light years — by the
measure of our solar year and even take years in our conception to reach
the stars. '

"Sabene buried his head in his hands and said disconsolately:
'1 give up. Thinking about the meaning of time could drive a man out
of his mind. '

'Indeed, we know only the subjective moment of the present. The past
and future are the basis of the comprehension of space, extension, and the
elasticity belonging to it (space); this is something from which we are
moving away and which we are approaching. Everything depends upon the
point of departure and the distance. That which took place on the planet we
left, even though the distance is measured for us in thousands of solar
years, can still be observed by our contemporaries, witnesses from another
celestial body far, far from earth. Hannibal's march across the Alps,
the Lisbon earthquake, the Moscow fire, are still taking place in front of
eyes following our planet from appropriate distances. History, which has
long since been dead for us, is alive to the distant observers, it is the
present or the future. Perhaps all that we call life, the process of
development and progress, is only a gigantic tome that is not being written
but has everlastingly been written. What the individual understands as his
life is the consciousness kindled in his "I" in order for it to run through
several pages of the gigantic book of eternity, from the tiny alpha of the
moment of the present in which consciousness is kindled to that omega of
the moment when it is extinguished. We read our own small destiny in
this book and imagine that we are living. This book is unalterable no matter
how many times its pages have been illuminated and re-read. Life is
merely an illusion, a fragment of an infinite film of eternity, animated when
the pictures emerge in the light and are reflected in the eyes of the soul.
And the souls of millions being born and dying are only bright patches of
tremulous light falling on the pages of the open book of eternity in which
each one of us removes one page, another page. . . '"

These dreams of future flights in outer space reveal the work of the
human imagination, and they will be fruitful only if they are based on science.

In this context it is interesting to note what Camille Flammarion
(Figure 6) has to say on the breadth and limits of man's imagination in his

book "Les habitants de I'autre monde, I'etude oii I'on expose les conditions
d'habitabilite des terres celestes, discutees au point de vue de I'astronomie
et de physiologie" as follows:

"During man's sojourn on earth he draws from this planet the seed, or
at least the forms of his true perceptions, the substance of his ideas, the
basis of his concepts, the elements of the powers of imagination, but at the
same time he appears completely incapable of creating anything new,
anything outside the circle of his understanding. He is incapable of ridding
himself of earthly notions, of drawing on unknown elements for his strength.
Whatever he, captivated by the fervor of the boldest imagination, creates,
v/ill always smack purely of earthly derivation. But if he gave free rein to
his mettlesome racehorse, this unbridled imagination would dash for the
unfathomable, give chase to new creatures, and we would soon see it buried
in chaos and yielding chimerical monstrosities scarcely supported by
science. This fateful capacity of the human soul, relatively intensified,
becomes exceedingly sterile in consequence of the universal propensity of
nature to variety. It seems that nature has prescribed herself the law never
to produce two completely identical beings, as if she had decided to hold
aloft the banner of her inexhaustible wealth and her infinite power."

/vS

a C'*^ t,§^ f !-<—■•*

FIGURE 6. Camille Flammarion C1842-1925)

M. Nordrnan, the French astronomer, expresses himself more cautiously
in his fascinating "Journey around The Universe" (Gosizdat, p. 10, 1926).
In a passage on a flight to the moon, he writes:

"Thanks to the magnificent photographs taken at the Paris Observatory
recently, which even surpass those taken by the larger American
observatories, we know the surface of the moon so well that it is as if we
had walked its length and breadth with staff in hand.

A journey to the moon which has occupied the minds of so many has now
become almost unnecessary. All the better since the voyagers sitting in
the vehicle proposed for this journey by Jules Verne would inevitably be
flattened into pancakes by the starting speed of 12 km/sec (necessary to
overcome terrestrial gravity), obtained in one-thirtieth of a second. Verne
lost sight of the fact that all sudden changes in speed are nearly as
dangerous for those inside such a vehicle as those outside.

"As for the latest conception of an engine constructed on the principle of
a rocket, although it eliminates the above defect, it has other shortcomings,
besides which it does not solve the problem of reaching the moon.

"Nevertheless, these projects are not without inventiveness and some
scientific sense. They are a huge step forward in comparison with the
flippant devices proposed by Cyrano de Bergerac for journeying to the moon.
That was the mechanics of poets; can it be expected that they would
subordinate themselves to the laws that hang heavy over the Philistines?

"in any event, lacking the opportunity of reaching the moon, the best we
can do is to bring it close to us and fix it to the sensitive plates of our
astrographs."

The author goes on to tell of a lady donating 100,000 francs to the Paris
Academy of Sciences for the first person to establish relations with any
of the planets excepting Mars.

Gripped by the enthusiasm evoked by the idea of interplanetary flight
and in connection with scientific research on this question, there was
formed in Moscow in 1924 the "USSR Society for Interplanetary
Communications." The journal "Tekhnika i Zhizn', "* No. 12, published the
following item outlining the Society's objectives (no author given):

"The breakthrough which is now being observed in the matter of
interplanetary communications, the result principally of the work of
Tsiolkovskii, Oberth and Goddard, and which signifies that interplanetary
communication has finally left the realm of fantasy and taken hold of real
ground, is a breakthrough that is also being reflected in the USSR. In the
middle of April 1924, a Jet Propulsion Section was established at the
Military Science Society of the Air Force Academy, which set forth the
following aims:

1 . The bringing together of all persons working in the USSR on the
given question.

2. Procurement of all possible information on work originating in the
West.

3. The distribution of regular information on the current situation in
interplanetary navigation and, in connection with this, on publications
issued.

4. Independent scientific research and, in particular, research into the
military use of rockets."

" [Technics and Life."]

Flc;UR£ 7. The interplanetary communications section of the Air Force Academy in Moscow (Kaporsku,
Rezunov and Leiteizen)

The Section was furnished with a series of reports for its members,
including those by Professor Vetchinkin and the engineer Tsander; a

competition for a small rocket with a range of
100 km was inaugurated; a group for
deeper theoretical study of the question
was formed; other projects included the
organization of a laboratory, opening a book-
stall to satisfy the request for literature, the
formation of a film group to script films, etc.
(Figure 7).

The Section took an active part in
organizing the Society for Interplanetary
Communications. The Society's first step
was the arrangement of a public lecture by
M. Ya. Lapirov-Skoblo at the Polytechnical
Museum in Moscow.
^^.'^^MW^ "^^^ first issue of the journal "Raketa,""

'J%r*''jSB^ *'^® mouthpiece of the Society (Figure 8), was

^KSSar scheduled to appear on 1 July.

The Society was temporarily located at the
former observatory of Tryndin (Moscow,
B. Lubyanka, No. 13).

However, there was no further word
on the Section in the press. The journal
"Raketa" never appeared and the work
of the Section gradually petered out.

There was some reanimation in 1927 when the Association of Inventors
sent the following appeal on 30 January to persons engaged on questions of
interplanetary navigation:

FIGURE 8. Cover of the first Soviet
journal dedicated to interplanetary
travel

[Rocket.]

"The Interplanetary Section of the Association of Inventors calls your
attention to an exhibition which will be held on 10 February, 1927, at the
Association of Inventors building, 68 Tverskaya, Moscow. This is the first
world exhibition of models and mechanisms of interplanetary vehicles
constructed by inventors of different countries. The Association knows of
your work on the problem of cosmic flights and believes you will not refuse
to participate in our exhibition by submitting copies of manuscripts or
published works in addition to sketches, models, diagrams and tables. Many
inventors have already sent us material, among them the esteemed
K.E. Tsiolkovskii, and from abroad we expect to hear soon from Robert
Goddard of the U.S., Esnault-Pelterie of France, Max Waller of Germany,
Herman Oberth of Rumania, and Welsh of England. We would appreciate
your material well in advance of the opening, but if for some reason this
is not possible, please notify us. If you desire copies of the material on
display, please let us know."

Brcsi»u 15. September

FIGURE 9. Cover of the German journal "Die Rakcte"

Attached to the appeal was a letter written by Academician D. A. Grave
which contained greetings to all groups working on the mastery of outer space
and in which he wrote of the possibility of using electrons and particles of
disintegrated ionized material sent to the earth by the sun.*

In October 1926, the Society for Research into Outer Space (Gesellschaft

• For the contents of this letter, see Vol.3 : "Luchistaya Encrgiya" [Radiant Fnergy].

fill' Weltraumforschung) was founded in Vienna with Dr. F. Hoefft as
its head. Franz Oskar Leo-Elder von Hoefft was born in Vienna
on 5 April, 1882. In Vienna he completed his secondary school
education and then in 1900 enrolled for three semesters at the
technical college where he studied chemistry. Later followed one
semester at the university in Gottingen and six semesters at the University
of Vienna. In 1907, he received the title of Doctor of Philosophy. He entered
the employment of the Donewitz factory as an engineer and simultaneously
held two other positions, one with the Vacuum Oil Company and the other in
the Vienna Bureau of Patents. Finally, he performed independent
investigations and published his works. During World War I, he served in
the Austrian Dragoon Regiment. He had been occupied with the problem
of cosmic flights since 1891. Oberth's work on rocket flights in outer space
led him to establish a society in Vienna for the purposes of studying the
high regions above the earth with the help of vehicles which could also fly
over oceans and continents, cari-ying the mails or photographing the terrain.
Hoefft e.xpounded this objective of the society to the natural science congress
in Innsbruck in 1924.

In 192 7, the Society for Intei-planetary Navigation (Der Verein fiir
Raumschiffahrt E. V. Breslau) was founded in Breslau and its journal was
called "Die Rakete" (Figure 9). The first meeting of the Society took
place on 5 July, 1927. All persons interested in interplanetary navigation
may become members of the Society. The membership fee is three marks.
Professor Oberth (iVlediasch), Max Waller (Munich) and others head the
Society. Members receive the monthly journal "Die Rakete" free of
charge.

The Society's address is: Johann Winkler (publisher of "Die Rakete"),
Hohenzollernstrasse 63/65, Breslau 13.

Epigraph

"Nee soli cedit" (yielding not
even to the sun).

"Der Flug zur Sonne, "
Thiemc Paul 192C, p.21

Chapter II

LEGENDS AND FLIGHTS ON BIRDS

Man's inclinations and endeavors to climb upward can be traced back
deep into antiquity. The beings worshiped by man as deities were endowed
in his imagination with wings or symbolically likened to sovereigns of the
air: we are familiar with Saturn's wings, Jupiter 's eagle, Juno's peacock,
Venus' doves. Mercury's wings and those he gave to Perseus for his struggle
with Medusa.

The ancient Egyptians depicted the sun making its daily journey across
the sky with wings.

In the early legends, narratives and tales, where man assumed the sky
and stars to be close to earth, v/e find naive ways of connecting the sky with
the earth. Chinese legends, for instance, have it that the Chinese fell from
the moon onto the earth. Peruvian legends relate of Manco Guella, founder
of the first Peruvian dynasty, descending from the sky with his wife. The
Mayas of ancient Me.xico believed that the gods came down to earth on a
spider's web (Figure 82 at end of book). However, as man's knowledge
increased, he became aware of the remoteness from earth of the sun, planets
and stars, and we find this reflected in the legends in terms of new means
devised of flying in space.

In the pages that follow there will unfold before the reader a portrayal of
imaginary and, we would add, inconceivable methods of reaching the heavenly
bodies as visualized by people throughout the ages; sometimes this picture
will appear absurd and naive, other times with a semblance of truth— Cyrano
de Bergerac, for example — from which there have evolved modern scientific
theories and plans to reach outer space. We shall divide these imaginary
methods of flight into homogeneous groups of ways of reaching into space.

FLIGHTS TO THE SUN, MOON AND STARS IN THE
MYTHS OF KALEVALA

In the Finnish epic poem Kalevala there are tales of flights to the
different stars, by people or animals.

The following extracts are from a translation of Kalevala.*

[Russian by L.P. Bel'skii.Stupin Publishers, Moscow 192.5; English from the version of the A.K.Johnson Bool*
Concern, Hancock (Michigan), 1950.]

1 . The honey bee flies to the sky

The bee flew upward on tiny wings along a moonbeam.

Along the brim of the sun.

On the shoulder of the North Star,

On the back of the Seven Stars,

And into the cellars of Ukko.

2. Where was the bear born?

The honey-paw was born near the moon
In a crack of daylight.
On the shoulder of the Great Bear
Beside the maidens of the air.

3 . The capture of the sun and moon by Louhi
(mistress of Pohjola)

The moon stepped out from his home

To sit upon a crooked birch.

The sun came out from his castle

To rest upon a pine bough

and listen to the kantele.*

Louhi, the mistress of Pohjola,

Snatched them in her hands

And carried them off to her home in the dark north

Where she hid them inside a many-colored rock

With the charm, "Never shall you be free, O Moon,

To glimmer.

Never shall you be free to shine, O Sun,

Until I come to get you."

4. Return of the sun and moon

When Ilmarinen and Vainamoinen, heroes of Kalevala, decide to free the
sun and moon and tether Louhi to the side of a mountain,

Louhi knew that a day of danger was near

And with a scream arose into the air

To fly back to the north.

At once she hurried to free the moon and the sun

From the great mountain.

A musical instrument played by the hero of the legend, Vainamoinen.

FICiLIRK 10. Louiii captures the moon

THE CAT JOURNKYS TO THK SUN

In his "Tale of the Cat and Vavila"* (in the journal "Galchenok, "No. 24,
1912) A. Roslavlev desci-ibes the journey of a cat to the sun.

"The cat, filled with compassion for its master who had fallen through
an ice hole in the river, set forth on its journey to the sun:

FIC'URE 11. The cat sets forth for the sun
"Skazka pro kota i Vavilu. "

Pity tore at his heart

He stopped and pondered a while

And then resolved to entreat the sun

To melt the river. (Figure 11)

He remembered a path in the forest

And near the path a den

Near that den a pine tree

Standing higher than a cloud.

His heart hammered madly

He tarried not for long

But ran through the dark forest

And scampered up the tree.

Perching himself at the crown

He glanced below and saw no bigger than a fly

A waggon filled with hay

Which a peasant was taking to market.

How high I am, he said to himself.

And yet so far away from the sun

I must wait, it will come close

When it sinks at that side I will ask.

In an hour, in two hours.

The sun commenced to set

And before him stood a troubled cat

Begging for his help.

Reclining in his bed

Swarms of glaucous flax

Turning into bright gold

The sun bellowed fierily:

"So shall it be: I will cause

The ice in the river to melt." (Figure 12)

-<v

--.jJ-

FlCiURE 12. The cat talking to the sun

THE MONGOLIANS' JOURNEY TO THE SKY

In the book "Legends and Tales of Central Asia," collected by Count
A. P. Benningsen (St. Petersburg, 1912, p. 55), there is a Mongolian tale
"Origin of the Great Bear," which tells of seven Mongolians, having learned

to fly, ascended from the earth to the sky where they became the seven
stars of the Great Bear.

At that time it was very cold as there were six stars in the Pleiades.
The Mongolians picked out one star and ever since it has been warmer
on earth.

The star they chose is the tiny one near the second star at the tail of
the Great Bear.

Before their departure, one of them shot an aiTOw into the sky and shortly
afterward it fell to the earth threaded with stai's.

Ancient Greece, too, had its myriad of myths and legends on connections
between the earth, moon and sun. According to Diogenes Laerlius,
Heraclitus maintained that he was acquainted with an inhabitant of the moon
who had come down to earth, but r-efrained from describing him. Thei'e is
a myth about the Nemean Lion who fell fr'om the moon onto the earth. It is
pi-obably under the influence of this myth that the 16th century astronomei'
Cardan was convinced that he had been visited one evening by two dwellers
of the moon. "They wer-e, " he remarked, "two old, near-ly mute people."

THE FLIGHT OF ICARUS AND DAEDALUS

One of the most famous myths tells of the wondei-ful craftsman Daedalus,
builder of the great Labyrinth on the island of Crete, who took flight from
the island with his son Icarus on wings whose quill feathei-s wei-c th?-eaded
together and held in place by wax. Daedalus flew low over the water
cautioning Icarus to follow, but the daring Icarus soared upwai-ds towards
the sun. The sun's rays molted the wax and Icarus fell into the sea. Ovid
narrates this myth in his "iVletamorphoses" (Book 8, Song 2), The myth
also serves as the theme of numer-ous drawings, many of which are descr-ibed
in the article "La leggenda di Dedalo nell 'arte moderno," by Giuseppe
Boffito, which appeared in the journal "L'ala d' It alia," 1926, p. 299.

Five of these drawings are printed below (Figures 13 — 17). Figure 17 is
a reproduction of the drawing by the Russian artist Zen'kovich, which
depicts Icarus before the flight; filled with hope, and in defiance of his
father's instructions, he raises his left hand high as he contemplates a flight
to the sun. A similar idea is evident in the Italian sculpture (Figur-e 16)
"Daedalus makes wings for Icarus."

PRECURSORS OF ICARUS AND DAEDALUS

Not many people know that the precursors of Icarus and Daedalus may be
found in ancient Indian myths, most pai-ticularly in the epic Ramayana of
the first millennium B.C., which portrays the following event:

Rama, the hero, whose wife Sita has been abducted by the evil Ravana,
finds that his fate is bound up with that of the two bi-others, Sampati and
Eataius. Eataius is slain by Ravana when he tries to prevent the kidnapping
of Sita. On learning of the death of his brother, Sampati weeps bitterly.
His lamentations are found in the third book of Ramayana.

FIGURE 13. The fall of Icarus (from an 18th century engraving)

"Eataius and I competing with each other in our mad ambition and
striving for universal glory flew into space.

"Atop Kailaza we wagered, in the presence of a tribunal, that we would
fly along the sun to the top of Asia. We left together. Beneath us on earth
we saw town after town, which seemed not bigger than cartwheels.

"Many times we heard music and wondrous singing. We could see women
clad in red robes singing.

"Pursuing the sun we quickly pierced through space. The forests
beneath us resembled carpets of tufts.

FIGURE 14. The fall of Icarus (Amsterdam. 1670)
27

■ ■iiiiiiiini III

"The mountains appeared as if studded with stones and rivers, like a
band encircling the earth.

"The gigantic mountains of Himayat, Vindhya — and Meru itself —looked
like elephants bogged down in the mud.

"We were covered with cold perspiration, weakened by fatigue and fear,
and seized by a terrible weakness and giddiness.

"No longer could we distinguish the kingdoms of Yama, Anga and Varuna.
We thought that the whole world had disappeared, had been destroyed by
fire as on the Day of Judgment.

The two brothers, finding themselves in this hazardous situation, decide
to fly to the morning star which Sampati had seen from a distance. However,
here Eataius' strength deserts him and he starts to fall. Sampati hastens
to cover him with his wings in order to avoid the deathly rays of the sun.

"Under protection of my wings — Sampati continues — my brother was not
burned. But I got burned, thanks to my efforts, and lost my direction.

"I feared for Eataius who had fallen on Yanastana. Being in a deep faint
and having had my wings burned, I fell rapidly on Vindhya.

"From me had been taken my kingdom, my brother, my wings, and my
strength. As I lay on the mountain I prayed for death."

Sampati lay on the wild mountain and felt death approaching. And then
he was found by the pious Rizi, who prophesied that Sampati would render a
service to the great hero Rama and as a reward his feathers would grow.

When Angada, king of the apes, was commissioned by Rama to seek Sita,
Angada came to Sampati. From atop the mountain, Sampati had seen the
abduction of Sita and told Angada that Ravana had carried her off to Lanka.

Thus, as Rizi had prophesied, Sampati rendered a service to Rama and as
Rizi had foretold, his wings started to grow again. When Sampati saw
himself covered with reddish feathers, his joy was boundless:

FIGURE 15. Daedalus and Icarus (Riderer, 1493, Freiburg)

5812

"Once again" — he said — "I have my wings that were burned by the sun.
Once again I have the strength of my youth."
And turning to Angada, he said:
"Let the return of my feathers serve as an omen that Sita will be returned."

FIGURE 16. Daedalus and Icarus (ancient relief on the Villa Albani
in Rome)

Since the days of Plutarch and, in particular, since the time of the first
astronomical discoveries by telescope, writers endowed with brilliant
although unscientific fantasy have described some 100 journeys to the moon.

Thousands of years have passed since the thought of penetrating the
universe was aroused in the minds of men; 2,000 years ago, Lucianus
Samosatensis wrote his "Menippus," describing a daring adventure to the
raoon, but it is unlikely that he was the first.

In "A True Narrative," he describes his journey to the moon in a craft
that was lifted to an altitude of 100 leagues by a sandstorm; in seven days
he lands on the moon.

?■*■%■*

nGUR£ 17. Icarus and Daedalus by Zen'kovich (N.Rynin collection)

FLIGHTS ON BIRDS

An ancient Babylonian legend tells of Etana who flies to the sky on an
eagle to enlist the assistance of the gods. The following is a more detailed
description of the flight.

ETANA FLIES TO THE SKY ON AN EAGLE

During archaeological excavations in Nineveh, the library of King
Assurbanipal was unearthed; it contained 1,000 tablets bearing images and

hieroglyphics of epics, chronicles, magical texts, astronomical and
astrological reports, etc. Among them is an epic poem by an unknown poet
describing the flight of Etana to the sky.

FIGURE 18. Etana flics to the sky on the hack of an eagle

This poem tells of an event which occurred about 3,000 B.C. Etana is
a devout man. His wife is barren and he longs for a child. With this in
mind he approaches Shamash, God of the Sun. Shamash bids him to seek
the eagle who knows where the "grass of fertility" is. At one time the eagle
had betrayed a serpent with whom he had been allied, and the latter, with
the consent of the gods, had had him thrown into a dungeon and stripped of
his feathers. Etana finds the eagle, half starved in the dungeon, and feeds
him for eight months. At the end of this period the eagle is freed and
emerges from the dungeon as strong as a lion.

Sip-'

FIGURE 19. People and animals watrhing Etana's flight to the sky

He tells Etana that the "grass of fertility" is to be found in the sky and
proposes that Etana be seated on his back and hold tightly to his neck. The
eagle and Etana fly to the sky where the god Anu dwells. At the height of
one mile, the eagle says: "Look below, my friend. How do the mountains
and sea appear to you?" Etana, who is the first to see the earth from the
sky, replies: "The mountains look like hills and the sea like a ditch."

Soaring for yet another mile and glancing down once again, Etana likens
the earth to a "lot of trees," and looking down for a third time he
distinguishes nothing and compares the earth to a "gardener's pit."

On reaching Anu, they find no "grass of fertility." Anu advises them to
fly still higher, to Ishtar, mother of the gods.

"Let us then fly, my friend, to the goddess Ishtar," remarks the eagle,
and they fly higher.

After flying for a mile, the eagle bids Etana to look below and tell what
he sees.

Etana looks and thinks to himself: "What is left of the earth might be
compared to a hut and the sea to the yard."

They soar aloft for another mile. The earth now resembles a small loaf
of bread and the vast sea a bread basket. It must be stressed that the
ancient Assyrians visualized the earth as round, encircled by the sea, and
arising from the water like a huge mountain. To Etana this mountain
appeared smaller and smaller, like a small loaf of bread in a basket.

After another mile, the eagle says:

"Look below, my friend. The earth has disappeared! " Etana replies:
"I look down and perceive that this is so and that the vast sea is no longer
visible. My friend, I no longer wish to fly to the sky."

"Very well," says the eagle, "we will descend," and they begin their
descent, mile after mile. The story ends here and we are unable to ascertain
if Etana arrived safely on earth, if he ever obtained the "grass of fertility,"
or if the gods ever fulfilled his wish.

Figures 18 and 19 show Etana 's flight on the eagle. At the right, a
crescent is visible and to the left, the sun. This is an ancient image of man
flying to the sky. It is inscribed on the clay cylinders that are to be found
in the Berlin State Museum, the Hermitage in Leningrad, and in two
British museums.

In addition to the above, the cylinders also depict people and animals
observing Etana 's flight.

Historical research informs us that Etana was one of the kings of the epoch
after the Flood and reigned for 635 years. In the beginning, after the
creation of the world, ten kings ruled for a period of 432,000 years. Then
came the Flood, after which new kings arose, among them Etana. He was
the first and reigned some 3,200 years before the birth of Christ.

Archaeological excavations reveal that Etana had a son, who ruled for
410 years. His name is unknown and the only letters preserved are the
beginning — Va-li. Returning to the poem, one would be led to believe that
Shamash, the God of the Sun, heard his plea and granted him a son.

There is not one nation in antiquity that did not endow the creations of
its religious imagination with the ability to fly over the earth. Both the
pagan and Christian heavens were populated throughout with gods, demigods,
angels and spirits.

In his "A True Narrative," Lucian writes that on the moon people fly on
animals with three heads and wings that are broader than the sails of a ship.

THE FLIGHT OF KEI KAUS

The Persian poet, Firdusi, in his "Shah-Nama, " describes how the
Persian Shah Kei Kaus, having conquered the earth and all the spirits on it, is
incited by Iblis, head of the evil spirits, to conquer the heavens, sun and
moon. For this journey, the Shah commands the construction of a vehicle in
the shape of a throne composed of a seat with four columns mounted on
four powerful eagles. Kei Kaus seats himself on the throne, and raising a
pole to which pieces of meat are attached, he dangles it over the hungry
eagles and thus makes them fly in the direction of his choice. Flying high,
the Shah releases an arrow into the sky and then descends to the earth
(Figure 20).

FIGURE 20. The Persian Shah Kei Kaus flies to the sky

A similar theme was also employed by other Persian poets. Further,
the Arab historian Tabari tells of a flight by Nimrod on a throne supported
by four griffins in order to do battle with God and destroy him. An arrow

cast into the sky is also found among the Hebrews in the twelfth century
B. C. (Book of Judges) [sicl, who speak of sending an arrow into the sky from
atop the Tower of Babel; similarly, the Chinese Emperor Wou-y, who
reigned ca. 1198— 1194 B.C., also shoots an arrow into the sky.

THE FLIGHT OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT

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In Russian myths similar acts are ascribed to King Solomon, and in the
Jerusalem Talmud to Alexander the Great, who flew on a throne of eagles

and griffins to the sky. This flight was
reflected in many wf)rks of art describing
this event. Here is how it is told in a 3rd
century B.C. writing; Alexander ordered
four- pow(>rful birds, who had not been fed
for three days, to bi- harnessed to the throne.
Seating himsc^lf on the throne, Alexander
raises higli two spears from whicii pieces of
meat dangle. In their struggle to seize
the food, the birds (devate the throne. At a
high altitude, Alexander encounters a bird
with the face of a man who orders him back
to (>arth. When he glances downward he sees
dc>ep below a colossal serpent coiled in a
ring and in the- c(>nler' of the ring a small dais

The bir-d tells Alexander that the serpent
is a sea and the dais the c>arth encompassed
by the sea. At the bird's command,
" ' J Alexand(>r releases t)ie spears and the throne

h,} " is flown back safely to earth, but so far from

"** ^ "'■' the original site that it is with great difficulty

that Alexander finally makes his way to
his army .

Alexander's flight is described at various
times in historj and m various art forms.
Figure 21 is a miniature from a Munich
manuscripl of the 14th cmitury (Enikels
"Weltchronik"). Figure 22 is also a
miniature of the year 1320. Figure 23 is a
relief on the Romanesque gates of the church in
Remagen on the Rhine. Figure 24 is a relief
in the basilica of St. Mark's Cathedral in
Venice, and Figure 25 is an embroidery on
semisilk material which was made in
Regensburg in the 13th century (Krefeld
Museum).

sa«*=="

FIGURE 21. Alexander of Macedonia 's
flight to the sky on birds

GONZAT.KS' FI.ICHT

In 1638, "The Man in the Moon or- a Discourse of a Voyage Thither by
Domingo Conzalcs, tlic^ Speedy Messenger," by Francis Godwin (1562 — 1633]
was published posthumously in i-^ngland. The book was subsequently
translated into Fi cnch (1 648) and Dutch. It tells of a Sevillian nobleman,
Domingo Gonzales, who tamed wild swans and taught them to carry heavy
bui'dens in the air, including himself. Aided by the swans Gonzales flew
from a ship which had becMi wrecl<ed to the Peak of Tenerife and from the
Peak higher. . . highei-. . . (Figure 26).

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i'lic I'.rst tliinfi (;on/al(>s learned durmg ins aei'ial voyage was that at a
given .iltitude tl'ie body l)ecomcs weightless. llu' swans flew at a terrifying
sjXM'd ,aid the only Hung which kc))t (Jon/ales I'rom dropping dead of fear
was Ins Sjianish cour-age. He flew foi' eleven days and from the very fii'St
day v\ a s sui'rounth'd by evil si)irits striliing i-nor-jnous fear in the hearts
of the swans. [lowevt'r, (ionzales soon I'ame to tiM'ins with them. During
his flight he took neither- food nor- dr-ink. At last the swans r-eached the
moon's atmospliere. One might ask how the voyager-, sitting on his staff
with legs dangling lielow and rope in hand — as lie is shown in the engraving
dedicated to this adventure —could maintain this j)Osition for eleven days
and eh'ven nights. Gonzales' reply is that he was just as comfortable in
this position as he -.vould have l^ec^n in a fcathi-r bed.

Domingo Gtjnzales' flight was the suljject of many pictui-es. For example.
Figure 27 — Flier of Foi'tune (Glilcksflieger ' — is the work of Hans Tlioma.

Further, Figure 28 shows a similar illustration to the Horatian ode 1,
III. 38 on the theme "Caelum ipsum petimus stultitia."

Journey to the moon on a flying chariot. — The Englishman Wilkins in his
"A discourse, concerning a new World and another Planet" (in two books,
by Wilkins. London), which was published in 1640, notes that one might
construct a flying chariot based on the same principles as advocated by
Archytas of Tarentum for inaking a wooden dove fly, and by Regioinontanus
for an eagle. Besides this, for a flight of this kind one might sit on the back
of the large birds which they say are found in Madagascar.

FKU'RE L'3. Alexander of Mart'donia's flight freliefon the Roman gate.': of die cliurcli in Ren7agfn on
the Rliiii'

riCURF. '24. Alexander of Maeedonia's flight (relief in the basiliea of St. Mark's
Cathedral in Venire)

Note 1 . The philosopher Archytas of Tarentum, who lived in the
4th century B.C., built a mechanical dove of wood which, preserving its
equilibrium in the air through the weight suspended from it, was put into
motion by the gas contained in it.

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FICiURE 25. Alexander of Macedonia's flight (embroidery in the
Krefeld Museum)

Note 2 . Johann Miiller, better known as Regiomontanus, was a German
mathematician who lived in the 15th century A. D. He built a fly of metal
and an eagle of iron which supposedly flew 500 steps forward and backward
before Emperor Frederick IV in Nuremberg.

Flight to the inoon on an eagle.— In 1865, Alexandre Dumas, in his
"Journey to the Moon," has his hero Moke fly to the moon on an eagle.

TWO CHILDREN FLY TO THE SKY ON A COSMIC BIRD

In 1927, there appeared the Russian translation of the German "Journey
on a Cosmic Bird" by Fritz Pferdmenges. In this adventure for children,
the author tells of two children who dreamed that they had flown on a
wondrous white cosmic bird to the planets of the solar system and farther
in the stellar world. The cosmic bird flies through the universe following
the movement of the stars and puts those back which have swerved from
their courses. The children are seated on its back. From its body there
stream the vital substances which it had drawn from outer space when it
cut through the universe with one mighty swoop. From its feathers there
appears a small white cloud which floats over its back; this makes it

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FIGURE 26. Domingo Gonzales flying on his swans to the moon

FIGURE 27. "Flier of Fortune"

possible for the ohildrf to breathe. The heat exuding from the body
of the bird keep the ch. idren warm (Figure 29).

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FIGURE 28. Thi.iiigh stupidity we reach heaven itself (Horatian ode)

The journey starts fi-oin earth and the children are cari-ied by the Moon,
Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, the comets and
thus to the boundary of our universe where another cosmic bird flies. This
attractively drawn up book for children tells about the sky and celestial
bodies.

FIGURE 29. The children fly to the stars on the cosmic bird

Epigraph

The earth bored me; my endeavor
Was directed to the far away sky
There I saw the sun and moon approach
There I now see the gods

Cyrano de Bergerac

Chapter III

CYRANO DE BERGERAC S FLIGHTS TO
THE MOON AND SUN

Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac (Figure 30), born in 1619 in the town of
Bergerac near Perigueux (France) and best known as Cyrano de Bergerac,
was a man of very comprehensive education and reading. In addition, he
was distinguished by great courage, was a poet, writer, musician and
physicist. The French poet Edmond Rostand sings praises to the life and
deeds of de Bergerac in a heroic comedy.

In two of his works, "Voyage dans la Lune, " 1649, and "Histoire comique
des Etats et Empires du Soleil, " 1652, he tells of an imaginary voyage to
the moon and sun and describes eight ways of flying to the moon and four to
the sun. (Translated into English in 1659, 1687, and 1753. )

In the following we present his ways of reaching the moon and sun, availing
ourselves of the interpretation of these schemes found in C. Flammarion's
"Inhabitants of the Celestial Universe," J.Lecornu's "La navigation
aerienne" and E.Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac."

BERGERAC 'S EIGHT METHODS OF FLYING TO THE MOON

1. The principle of flight of a body
lighter than air

As for instance — Having stripped myself

Bare as a wax candle, adorn my form

With crystal vials filled with morning dew

And so be drawn aloft, as the sun rises

Drinking the mist of dawnl (Rostand)

2. An aeroplane with a spring motor

"I built a machine capable of raising me wherever I wished. I seated
myself inside, and launched myself from the top of a mountain into space.
But because I had neglected to take certain measures, I fell downward."
Further, he goes on to say that the machine had wings operated by a spring.

Again, I might construct a rocket, in the form

Of a huge locust driven by impulses. . . (Rostand)

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m Je pru men £/serc I'erj /ju Ci^ux Bl

i'lll I%- -i'tJi Ie/c!ctZ, cc lu tune , Hi

jjjl ly rt^ ie/i.

L'ljrano de ^/Jergv rac.

FIGURE 30. Cyrano de Bergerac (1619-1655)

"The earth bored me; my endeavor

Was directed to the far away sky

There I saw the sun and moon approach

There I now see the gods."

[Rendered slightly differently in the Russian translation, as some other

extracts].

3. The rocket principle

The soldiers who picked up the machine, which had fallen in the valley,
thought it was a flying dragon and in order to stop it from flying were about
to set fire to it. At this time (Cyrano):

"Filled with grief that the labor of my hands found itself in such danger,
I rushed forward, seized the hand of the soldier carrying the fire, snatched
the match away from him, and jumped into the machine. But I was too late:
the rockets burst into flames and the machine with me in it lifted into space:
however, the rockets did not burn up simultaneously but one by one: they
were disposed in different stages, six in each, and the last stage burst into
flame after the preceding had burnt up. It was due to this that I escaped the
danger of being destroyed by all rockets exploding at once" (Figure 31 ).

FIGURE 31. Cyrano de Bergerac flies to the moon with the
help of rockets

Of villainous saltpetre from the rear.
Upward by leaps and bounds.

(Rostand)

4. Attraction of the moon through
bulls' marrow

After falling on the earth and bruising himself (see Scheme 2), Cyrano
had treated his wounds by anointing himself with the marrow of bulls.
Raised to an enormous height by the rockets (Schemie 3), he notes that all

the rockets have burned out and that
the machine is starting to fall.
However, he continues to rise higher
and higher. . . Accustomed to sucking
bulls' marrow, the moon has now
been sucking the marrow with which
Cyrano had covered himself the night
before; the moon draws closer and
closer. Suddenly he falls onto the
moon, legs upward," but the impact of
the fall prevents him from
remembering how it all had happened.

Or since Diana, as old fables tell.

Draws forth to fill her crescent horn,

the marrow

Of bulls and goats — to anoint

myself therewith. (Rostand

FIGURE 32. Cyrano de Bcrgerac's flight to the
moon by attracting it with the bulls marrow

5. M on t g o 1 f i e r ' s principle
with a parachute

He filled with smoke two metallic,
hermetically sealed globes that were
attached to wings. The smoke, having
no way of escaping through the metal,
lifted the globes together with Cyrano
When he was near the moon, he opened
the globes attached to his shoulders together with wings, and when the
distance between him and the moon was not more than 4 toise [1.949 m] he
freed himself completely of the globes. However, he was still high enough
to be hurt on falling, but luckily his clothing, swelled by the wind, lessened
the velocity of the latter and he landed safely on his feet.

Or again.

Smoke having a natural tendency to rise.

Blow in a globe to raise me.

(Rostand)

6. Ascent with the aid of a magnet

This scheme consisted of hurling a large spherical natural magnet into
the air, which drew the light iron machine in which the voyager found
himself. This operation continued until the machine reached the sphere
of the moon's attraction.

Finally — seated on an iron plate
To hurl a magnet in the air — the iron
Follows — I catch the magnet — throw again —
And so proceed indefinitely.

(Rostand)

7. Attraction of the moon (ocean tides)

The ocean.'

What hour its rising tide seeks the full moon,

1 laid me on the strand, fresh from the spray.

My head fronting the moonbeams, since the hair

Retains moisture, — and so I slowly rose

As upon angels' wings, effortlessly.

Upward — then suddenly I felt a shockl —

and then. . .

(Rostand)

FIGURE 33. Cyrano de Bergerac leaving the moon on the
devil's back

8. Cyrano de Bergerac flies from the moon
to earth on a devil

On his return from the moon to earth Cyrano flew with a moon dweller —
a giant — aided by the devil. When the latter was flying over earth and past
Italy, Cyrano pronounced the name of God and suddenly separated from the
devil and landed safely on earth (Figure 33).

BEBGERAC'S FOUR WAYS OF FLYING TO THE SUN

9. Flight after the manner of clouds

One fine day Cyrano wound around himself numerous vials (Figure 34)
filled with dew on which the sun had been pouring its rays with such force

that the heat, attracting the vials in the same
manner as it attracted the largest clouds, lifted
Cyrano so high that he soon found himself
above the middle region of space. But he flew
too fast, and instead of approaching the moon
as he had hoped he moved away, since it
appeared to be smaller than when he had taken
off. And therefore he broke several of the
vials; his weight now exceeded the force of the
sun's attraction and he landed on earth.

10. The principle
within a body

of rarefied air

Cyrano set to work again to build a new
machine. This was a large, very light chest,
hermetically sealed in case it was necessary,
6 feet high and 3 to 4 feet wide. There was a
hole in the lower part, and an aperture in the
upper part allowed for access to a crystal globe
whose neck, made in the form of an icosahedron,
reached into the crystal chest; the globe
possessed the properties of burning glass
(Figure 35).

One morning Cyrano was seated in his
machine on the terrace of his house. The sun
lit up the transparent icosahedron; its rays
penetrated the chest, producing magical effects of coloration when suddenly
Cyrano started, as if being hoisted on a pulley. What happened! The vacuum
created in the icosahedron by the sun's rays had attracted air which had
penetrated the machine through the lower aperture and raised the machine.
This occurred so rapidly that the voyager, who had recovered from his
initial shock, and in an effort to orient himself had attempted to lift the sails

FIGURE 34. Cyrano de Bergerac
flies like the clouds

of the icosahedron with a rope, was already so high in the air that the town
appeared like a scarcely visible dot; Cyrano set off towards the sun,
flying close past the moon and leaving Mercury and Venus to the right.
After a four months' journey he arrived at one of the sun's spots, which is
actually a small world revolving around the morning star.

Or, sealing up the air in a cedar chest.
Rarefy it by means of mirrors, placed
In a icosahedron.

(Rostand)

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FIGURE 35. Cyrano de Bergerac flies to the sun with the help
of rarefied air within a body

11. Flight by will power

As Cyrano flew rather close to the sun he observed that the walls of his
icosahedron were unusually transparent. When he extended his hand too
vigorously the crystal icosahedron unexpectedly smashed into smithereens.

and he hung in infinite space, turning upon the sun his mournful face and
thoughts. But as it turned out, this was a better way of achieving the goal
of the voyage: his will power reached such proportions that twenty-two
months after his departure he arrived at the spacious dominion of the
morning star.

12. Cyrano accomplished one of his voyages to the sun with four gigantic
eagles who seized him by the arms and legs and carried him off to the sun
(Figure 36).

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FICiURE 36. Cyrano de Bergcrac flies to the sun on eagles

CONCLUSIONS ON CYRANO DE BERGERAC'S SCHEMES

Of all the twelve schemes of de Bergerac, 1, 2, 5, 9 and 10 are worth
consideration in relation to space flights in general, and 3 and 7 are notable
in relation to planetary flights. Schemes, 1, 5 and 9 contain a grain of truth
in themselves, anticipating ascent in Mongolfier balloons by nearly
100 years.

REACTION TO CYRANO'S IDEAS IN THE
CONTEMPORARY PRESS

M. Laurent - E inac organizes a flight
to the moon

An article bearing the above title, which appeared in the French journal
"L'aerosport," No. 386, 1925, describes in a humorous tone how M.Laurent-
Einac, head of the French Air Force up to 1926, meets with the famous
Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac, author of "Voyage dans la lune. " In the
fictitious conversation between them, the French Air Force chief tells of
his desire to launch a spacecraft with 40 passengers to the moon.

Epigraph

With a heart of furious fancies.
Whereof I am commander,
With a burning spear and a horse of air.
To the wilderness I wander.

Tom O'Bedlam's song
Edgar Allan Poe,"The Unparalleled
Adventures of One Hans Pfaall "

Chapter IV
FLYING HORSES

The legends and myths of flying horses in the celestial sphere are
numerous.

Flying in Arabian fairy tales

Arabian fairy tales are filled with diverse means of flying. People are
borne aloft on magic objects or supernatural creatures. In "Alladin and
the Magic Lamp, " Alladin and his palace are conveyed from Africa to
China by powerful genie s, who also bear aloft a bed containing the Emperor
of China's daughter.

In another tale, "The Emperor's Son Ahmed and the Beautiful Fairy
Pari-Panu, " Ahmed and his two brothers fly from one country to another
on a magic carpet. Other stories tell of people flying on angels, genies,
etc. However, all these flights take place just above the earth in only
two tales does fantasy take them higher).

In "The History of Sinbad the Sailor" (seventh journey), Sinbad on his
seventh and last journey falls among people who grow wings each spring
and thus are able to fly. In his desire to experience the sensation of flying,
Sinbad asks one of the inhabitants to take him on one of the latter's journeys.
Here is how Sinbad tells of the experience: "I grasped him around his waist
and he carried me off broadly flapping his wings (Figure 37).

"For quite a long time we flew in a straight line, and ascended so high
into the remote parts of the azure skies that I could hear the angels singing
under the canopy of heaven."

However, this flight ended in disaster. Enraptured with the singing, Sinbad
pronounced the name of Allah and his bearer, who was a demon, abruptly
descended to a high mountain, and there flung Sinbad off.

In another tale, "The Magical History of the Horse of Ebony Wood," the
son of the Emperor of Persia mounts a wooden horse, presses a nail
and the horse flies so long that they nearly reach the sun. The Persian
prince, seeing what a horrible death awaits him in the heavenly regions,
seeks and finds another nail, which he presses, thus compelling the horse
to descend to earth (Figure 38).

The Roman poet Ovid narrates in his "Metamorphoses" of Phaethon,
who drove the sun-chariot harnessed to white horses but was killed by a
thunderbolt at the hands of Jupiter (Figure 39).

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FIGURE 37. Sinbad the- Sailor flics ro the sky on a winged man

Astolph journeys to the sun in a
horse-drawn chariot

Ariosto describes a journey to the sun by one of his heroes, Astolph, in
"Orlando Furioso" (Figure 40) in the following manner:

Scarcely had the sun sunk into the bosom of the waters and a sickle of
moon appeared than the holy servant, Evangelist John, bade that a chariot be
prepared for those who were to be raised to the sky. In this chariot the
prophet Elijah in his time had been seen over the Judean Hills. Four
bright-colored horses were yoked to the chariot. The Evangelist took his
seat next to Astolph, grasped the reins and set off into the sky. Soon the chariot
was in a region of fire, whose heat died down in the presence of the holy
man. Flying past the heat they arrived at the vast world of the moon, whose
surface gleams like bright steel.

The Prophet Elijah is carried to heaven

In the Fourth Book of Kings (Bible), pp. 11 — 12 [Russian version], there
is the description of Elijah being borne to heaven: "And it came to pass,
as they still went on, and talked, that behold, there appeared a chariot of

fire, and hoi'ses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up
by a whirlwind into heaven.

rill Rl- I-'. Ilk' I mixTor of l\-r-;ia's -on n>iil); on his magic
liorso to [lie -iiij

"And Eli.sha saw it, and he eriod, ' My father, my father, the chariot of
Israel, and the horsemen thereof; ' And he saw him no more." (Figure 41).

G. Veehfinskii, in his "Aero— Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow"* (Kharkov,
1925, p. 7) treats the stt)ry of Ellijah thus: "And someone spread in panic
the rumor that some holy prophet by the name of Hlijah was driving
through the sky in a chai-iot. Ignorant boors and cranks believed this
rumor and thus Elijah became engraved in their minds as the first
conqueror of fhe sky" (Figure 42).

"Aero - vchera, s<.'godnya, /avrra."

\.j^-

Zi^

f^"" ^ J^

-i^. -,?^-'

©.^'^-^

^..4.:

"^t^^^^^,^""-^ ^^.

FIGURE 39. PhaSthon's disastrous flight to heaven

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r^'

Journeys to the sun. moon and stars in Russian fairy tales

The mode of journeying to the sky in Russian fairy tales is very
primitive. The heroes travel there either on foot or by horse.

The following are excerpts from A. N. Afanas'ev's "Russian Fairy Tales."*

The Sun, Moon and Voron-Voronovich (Vol. 1, p. 67, 1897). An old man
journeys (on foot?) to the sun and moon who are married to his
daughters.

The Witch and the Sun's Daughter (Ibid., p. 69). Ivan the Tsarevitch, escaping
from the witch, gallops off on his horse to the tower of the sun's sister
(Zorya), who opens the window for the Tsarevitch to climb in. Then the
witch demands that she and Ivan be weighed. "If I outweigh him, then I will
eat him up, and if he outweighs me, then let him kill me I "

"Narodnye russkle skazki."

Off they went (to earth, probably); first Ivan sat on the scale and then the
witch; the witch merely put one foot on the scale and Ivan was sent flying
with such force that he fell on the sky, in the tower of the sun's sister. . .

FIGURE 40. Auolph and the Fvailgflist John fly to the moon in a horse-drawn chariot

Marko the Rich Man and Vasilii the Luckless (ibid., p. 245). In the note
to this tale there is attached another. . . The Tsar dispatches a worthy
young man to the sun in order to ascertain why it has not shone for three
days. The young man rides on a horse to the sun, finds out what was
required and then retui'ns home.

The Fire-Bird and Vasilisa-Tsarevna (ibid., p. 267). In the note to this
tale there is told the Malorossiya version: "An honest young man, at the
behest of his beloved, travels to the other end of the world where the sun
spends its nights.". . . A similar theme is present in the South Russian tale
of "Ivan who rode to the tower of the sun, built over the blue sea."

The flight of Ivanushka-Durak on the Humpback Horse

The horse with the golden bridle broke loose
And made his way to the sun.

P. Ershov, "The Humpback Horse"*

* "Konek-Gorbunok."

FU'URL 41. hlijali tlu- Propiit-t is carrit-cl to hcavi'ii (according- to the Hihle)

FK VRt \'2. Flijall ttu Proplut flii-s in thi- sky (accorjin;- to WchfjnsKii)

The talented P. Ershov, in his story "The Humpback Horse," narrates
of the flight of Ivanushka-Durak on the Humpback Horse to the moon which,
as the Tsar-Devitsa told him, is her mother:

■---1

■v.- A

-SStV

'* M«il

FK'URE I.'!. Ivai'iKlil-a-niirak ;;oi-^ to llic moon on the llniiipback Horse

Said the Devitsa to him

The moon is my mother, the sun my brother.

At the command of the Tsar, Ivan rides on his horse to the moon
(Figure 43).

The horse ran there.

Where (I heard in a whisper)

The sky joins the earth.

Where the peasants spin flax.

The spinning wheels are placed in the sky.

Here Ivan parted with the earth

And fouhd himself in the sky

And rode like a prince

Hat at his side, filled with good spirits.

What marvel! What marvel!

Our kingdom while beautiful.

He tells his horse

Amidst the azure glades.

Cannot be compared

To this heaven we have here;

What is the earth? It is indeed

Black and dirty;

Here the earth is blue.

And how it gleams!

Look, Humpback,

Do you see, there to the east.

Like summer lightning

A heavenly window

Something high?

Thus asked Ivan of the horse.

It is the tower of the Tsar-Devitsal

Our future Tsarina I

Humpback screams to him:

The sun sleeps here at night.

And at midday

The moon enters for repose.

Ivan approaches the moon and gives it an account of the Tsar-Devitsa
(Figure 44) and then:

FIGURE 44. Ivanushka-Durak talks to the moon

Bowing, as he knew well

On his horse he sat

Whistled like a noble knight

and set forth on the return flight.

FIGURE 45. Why are there no longer any genics.good or evil, who
would carry me off to those strange worlds on their wings (Faure and
Graffini}

Chapter V

FLYING ON SUPERNATURAL BEINGS

The flight of Simon the Magician

In his "Dictionnairc genealogique, historique et critique de I'Histoire
Sainte," Abbe Sicat-d tells of Simon who, in the endeavor to impress his
power on Emperor Nero (66 A.D.), declares that he will raise himself to
the sky before the eyes of the entire nation. At a certain time all the
people assemble to watch this singular event. Simon ascends on an evil
spirit, but St. Peter, by force of prayer, destroys the powers of the demons
and Simon falls to his death.

"Le voyage de milord Ceton dans les sept planetes ou le
nouveau mentor"

The above is the title of a 7 -volume work by Marie Anne de Roumier
which was published in The Hague in 1765. The author describes the
journey of an Englishan, Lord Ceton, and his sister Marimma to the planets:
the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, the Sun, Jupiter and Saturn. The journey
is accomplished with the help of the genie Zahiela, who transforms Ceton
and his sister into flies during the flight in order to ease the burden of
flying, but at each planet they are transformed into a dweller of that planet.
To Jupiter they fly as a group of chained interconnected atoms. On their
return to earth it transpires that Marimma is not in actual fact Ceton 's
sister but a Georgian princess, and the two wed.

Mohammed flies to the heavens on a winged being

In Chapter VII of the Koran, under the title "Nocturnal Journey,"
Mohammed tells of what he has heard from God during the course of the
night and describes it thus: "Praised be He who carried His servant during
the night from the sacred Temple of Mecca to the far away Temple of
Jerusalem. . . "

Here there is the account of an aerial journey of Mohammed from Mecca
to Jerusalem and then across the seven heavens to the throne of God.
Mohammed is transported across the heavens by the Angel Gabriel on the
winged being Borak who, according to the description, has the head of a woman,
the body of a horse, and the tail of a peacock.

In the early days of Islam, the credibility of this event was the subject of
argument; some maintained that the aerial ascent was nothing more than
a vision, while others insisted that what had happened to Mohammed was
essentially corporeal. The first group based its arguments on the testimony
of Mohammed's companion Moavia, who always viewed this journey as a
vision, and on the words of Aisha, Mohammed's wife, who stated that he
always spent his nights at home. However, in view of the hatred that some
sects, the Shiites for example, harbored against the above persons, the
opposite view was spread and thus it came about that the generally accepted
belief is that it did indeed happen. At the same time, it is added that the
journey during which Mohammed saw the seven heavens and spoke with
God took place so rapidly that his bed was still warm when he returned and
the jug of boiling water still full, although on his departure the water was
ready to boil over.

A missionary travels to the sky

One medieval missionary tells of how he came across a place where the
sky meets the earth (Figure 46).

Hyper bolus' magic flight to the planets

"The Journey of Hyperbolus to the Planets," a 5-volume work by Cophrin-
Rohny was published in Paris in 1808. Hyperbolus, the hero of this work,
is the son of a magician and a Persian woman who visits the planets,
starting with the Moon and ending with Saturn, aided by a genie.

The flight of the witch to the stars and the devil to the moon.
The flight of the blacksmith Vakula on the devil along
the stars and the moon

Gogol, in his short story "The Night before Christmas,"* describes how
a witch flies to the stars (Figure 47).

* "Noch' pered Rozhdestvom."

' '4 "I'K^. }

■A"

f^.

FIGURE 46. The medieval missionary comes to the place where the sl<y meets the earth

"Clouds of smoke arose to the sky froin the chimney of a hut and with
the smoke there ascended a witch mounted on a broom. She sailed so high
that only a tiny black spot flickered above. But wherever this spot appeared
the stars, one after the other, vanished in the sky. The witch filled her
arms with them. Three or four still glittered. Suddenly, from the other
side, there appeared another tiny spot which increased, started to expand,
and soon was no longer a spot. . . one might conjecture that it was the
devil. . . he stole quietly to the moon (Figure 48) and had just stretched out
his hands to seize it, but suddenly backed away as if burned, sucked at his
fingers, stamped his foot and ran to the other side and again jumped and
drew back his hand. However, in spite of his failure, the cunning devil did
not abandon his mischief. Running up he suddenly caught the moon with
both hands, grimaced, and blew on his fingers, throwing the moon from one
hand to the other, like a peasant taking a live coal in his hand for his pipe;
finally, quickly thrusting it in his pocket, he ran on as if nothing had taken
place." Later, he met the witch and returned to earth with her: "The
witch. . ., raising her hand above and turning one leg aside, brought herself
into a position like a man flying on a horse and, not moving one muscle,
descended in the air as if she were on the icy slope of a mountain, and
landed in the chimney. The devil, in the same manner, followed after her. . ."

In another part of the story Gogol describes the flight of
blacksmith Vakula on the devil:

the

'^h'^ ?v-^-^

FIGURE 47. The witch steals the stars (Gogol)

FIGURE 48. The devil steals
the moon (Gogol)

"How strange everything appeared to Vakula, especially when he arose
from the earth to such heights tnat he could no longer see anything below,
and he flew like a fly right under the very moon; if he had not bent
his head a little his cap would have struck it. . . He could see exactly how
the stars gathered in a cluster were playing blindman's bluff."

5812

The Hussar flies to the stars

In his poem, "The Hussar. "* Pushkin describes how a Hussar, having
drunk a magic potion, flies off to the witches' Sabbath:

Headlong I fly, fly, fly.

To where I do not remember nor do I know.

To the oncoming stars I cry:

Right! . . and on the earth I fall.

"Gusar. '

Chapter VI

FLIGHTS IN THE BIBLE AND
OCCULT WRITINGS

FIGURF 49. The Sphinx - symbol of occultism

Epigraph

Mysticism is not so far afield from the positive
sciences as superficial minds assume, and the
mathematical outlook on the laws and phenomena
of nature sometimes leads directly to mysticism.

Camilla Flammarion
"Inhabitants of Outer Space"

And the will therein dieth not. Who knoweth the
mysteries of the will, with its vigor? For God is but
a great will pervading all things by nature of its
intentne.':':. Man doth not yield himself to the angels,
not unto death utterly, save only through the weakness
of his feeble will.

Edgar Allan Poe
"Ligeia"

All religions recognize that the soul of man after death is carried to
heaven, although the exact place where this soul will find sanctuary is
viewed differently by different peoples. For example, the Eskimos believe
that when they die their souls will settle on the moon. Other faiths believe
that the angels will take the souls of dead children to heaven, or bring them
back to earth from heaven (Figure 50).

--^em

^^fa

^..^

"1 — .«»•

FIGURE 50. "He carried the young soul in his embrace
For the world of sorrow and tears"

The yogis fly to the moon

According to the sacred Hindu text "Bhagavad-Gita,'' the yogis or
Indian sages may fly to the moon at a certain time of the year.

Trajismigration of the soiil to the planets according to
Vedic teachings

In the ancient Hindu Vedic writings it is said that a man's soul after death
goes to that planet or star which corresponds to the works of the man, for
example, the sun or the moon.

The Bible narrates of living people being carried to heaven.

Enoch is carried to heaven

1 . "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
(Genesis 5 : 24). (Others are "dead," but of Enoch, "God took him.")

2. "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death."
(Hebrews 11 : 5).

The ascension of Jesus Christ to heaven

The evangelist Mark (Mark 16 : 19) says: "So then, after the Lord had
spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand
of God."

The evangelist Luke (Luke 24 : 51), on this same phenomenon, says: "And
it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and
carried up into heaven."

Finally, in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1 : 9), it says: "And when he
had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud
received him out of their sight."

The artist Gustave Dore depicts the ascension of Christ in a painting
(Figure 51).

The corporeal ascension of the Virgin Mary

Nowhere in the Bible is the death of the Virgin Mary mentioned, and of
the circumstances surrounding her death there is only sacred legend. In
the second century, the Sardinian Bishop St. Meliton tells of her corporeal
ascension to heaven. In the 15th century, Nikifor Kallist collected all the
legendary details of this occurrence in his church history.

Kepler's flight to the moon in a dream

In 1634, there was published posthumously in Frankfurt a book by the
renowned astronomer Johannes Kepler, entitled "Somnium, seu opus
posthumum de Astronomia lunari." The book was published by Kepler's
son. Here is how he explains how it came to be written, "in 1608, I read
by chance the history of a certain celebrated sorceress Libuse and, in
accordance with the instructions given in the book, concentrated heavily

for a few hours on the stars and the moon, and then I fell asleep, and in my
dreams I experienced a number of impressions, as if I had been on the mobn.
This book is dedicated to those impressions." In it the author describes
how the surrounding world appears to a man finding himself on the moon.

FIGURE 51. The Ascension of Christ

Voyage of a soul to the moon

In 1692, a book by Father Daniel, entitled "Journey in the World of
Descartes," was published in which the author, a follower of Descartes,
describes a fantastic journey to the moon, during which he succeeds in
learning, through some marvelous secret which he has gleaned from

Descartes, how to separate the soul from the body, and how the soul can
depart frorn the body, travel a great distance and then return to the body,
which spends this time as if asleep.

"Finally" — says the author — "We (he and his friend) set off for the
moon; m-y soul experienced indescribable bliss hovering in those
immeasurable spaces in which my soul when in union with the body could
be carried only with the help of vision."

Others who made ecstatic journeys to the starry spheres were St. Paul
(who was carried to the third heaven), Dante, and Kircher.

Dante journeys to the sky

Dante, in his "Paradise" (1300), narrates that with the help of Virgil
at the beginning, and of his friend Beatrice later, he succeeded in flying in
the sky and visiting the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, the fixed stars. Empyrean, etc.

The ecstatic journey of Athanasius Kircher

In 1656, there appeared in Rome the book "Ecstatic Heavenly Journey"
by Father Athanasius Kircher. In this book the author tells how he, under
the name of Theodidactis, aided by a genie, Cosmiel, was transformed
into a spirit and in this manner, together with Cosmiel, goes to the moon
and a number of other planets right up to Saturn and to the fixed heaven
(firmament).

The journey of Swedenborg's soul to the planets

The Swedish scientist and mystic, in his "Arcana coelestia" — "The
worlds of our solar system and the worlds of the starry heaven; of their
inhabitants, spirits and angels, on the basis of what was heard and seen by
Emanuel Swedenborg, 1758" — tells of the journey of his soul to Mercury,
Jupiter, Mars, Venus, the Moon, and the world of the stars. His soul, in
order to inake the journey, was separated from the body, which remained
in Stockholm.

Camille Flammarion, writing in his "In the Skies" (p. 83), says that mental
powers can of course be transported from one world to another, but not
always, not everywhere, and not all. An action of this kind is subject to
known laws and conditions.

The spiritual journey to the planets and stars
C. Flammarion

The French astronomer Camille Flammarion, in another of his works,
"Along the Waves of Infinity," describes the journey of a man's soul to the

different planets and stars. In the process he develops the following
judgment on the nature of naan. There are, he says, three different elements
in man: one — the body, two — the vital force, and three — the soul. The
soul is joined to the body through the medium of the vital force. As soon
as life is extinguished the soul immediately separates from the body. At the
same time, its immediate relation to space and time is discontinued. An
inexplicable force compels the soul to rush through celestial space with
inconceivable speed, one that is equal to the speed of thought.

Flammarion's descriptive manner compels the reader to follow the
flight of his thoughts and transfers him to the different planets and stars,
describing the appearance and character of the various worlds in an
attractive form.

The reincarnation and transmigration of souls to
other worlds

C.Flammarion in his "Multiplicity of Populated Worlds," expounding
the development of doctrines on the possibility of populating worlds other
than the earth, describes a doctrine preached by the most ancient book of
the Hindy Vedic teaching that after death the soul of man can be reincarnated many
times on other celestial bodies, and can migrate to other physical mantles.

Astral movement of man in interplanetary space

Occult doctrines presume the possibility of separating from the material
body of man his astral body which, being in itself an extraordinarily rarefied
substance, may at will be conveyed for long distances. Why then could not
this substance, changing its density just as one wished, be carried from
planet to planet under the influence of the repulsive action of light rays and
the attraction of the planet?

Occult flight through four dimensional space to planets
invisible to earth

V. I. Kryzhanovskaya, in her novel "The Magi"* (St. Petersburg, 1902,
p. 55), describes how the hero of the novel, Prince Supramati, and his guide,
the Flying Dutchman Dagir, who is preparing to initiate the Prince in
hierophantic arts, flies to a planet of the solar system which is invisible to
earth. The flight was accomplished from the Prince's castle in Scotland.
Here we leave the story to the author:

When evening fell, the Dutchman led his pupil into a room which the
Prince had never seen before in his castle, and closed the door so carefully
that not a trace of it remained visible and the wall appeared unbroken.

"Here is the laboratory for the journey we are about to take. The air
in this room has been especially prepared."

When the moon came out, Supramati examined the room closely. It was
a circular salon. In the center there stood what appeared to be a pavilion
with glass walls. Further, deep in the room, there could be seen a basin
and in the center a fountain which in the light of the moon sprayed out all
the colors of the prism. At Dagir's summons Supramati undressed, bathed,
and received from Dagir clothing resembling leotards, woven of a soft and
lightweight material like the softest batiste; it was like satin skin to the
touch. In the twinkling of an eye, the material completely covered him, not
only his hands but his head as well so that all that remained uncovered was
his face. However, this in no way hindered movement; despite its lightness
it was as warm as fur and produced a prickly sensation like electricity
flowing through the body. Supramati felt as if the clothing had fused with
his own skin, this taking on a grayish steel color. Dagir was also clothed
in a similar costume.

"We call this material skin of the spirits, said Dagir. "The costume
is necessary for penetrating into the dominion of the dead — in four
dimensional space," he continued, opening one of the walls of the glass
pavilion which was shaped in the form of a door, and inviting his friend to
follow. Supramati found himself in a glass room illuminated by the delicate
bluish light of the moon. In the middle of the room stood a small glass
table and two armchairs. On the table lay an open casket containing two
goblets filled with a sapphire colored steaming liquid and two pieces of what
appeared to be gingerbread.

"Let us be seated and drink to the success of our journey," said Dagir,
sinking into the armchair.

With these words the Dutchman emptied the goblet at one gulp. Supramati
followed suit. The liquid was like fire but did not burn and it tasted like
old, very spicy wine; but what sent him into absolute ecstasy was the
taste of the brown dough.

Gripped by a pleasant fatigue, Supramati leaned back in his chair.

How long this unconscious but completely delightful state continued, he
could not say, but on opening his eyes he saw that he was still in his chair.
The door of the pavilion was open and at the threshold stood Dagir who
appeared to Supramati to be floating in the air.

"Let us go, it is time; " cried Dagir.

Supramati arose, but emitted a cry as he lost his balance; he ascended
and somersaulted several times. The more he tried to stand on his feet
the more he overturned; hovering in the air he turned over and threshed
with his arms like a drowning man. . . (. . . the description continues how
Supramati gradually learned to maintain equilibrium, and there is a
comparison of his state with somnambulism when people lose their balance).

The young men walked to the window, which Dagir opened by pressing a
spring concealed in the wall. A strong gust of wind roared into the room,
flinging them back at first and then carrying them outward. For a moment
they spun in the air. Everything around them whistled and crackled and
emitted strange sounds. Suddenly the grayish atmosphere surrounding them
flared open with a dry crackle, and before them was revealed a vast expanse
flooded with the reddish glow of fire. Chaotic and irascible sounds reached
Supramati 's ears and a gust of air smelling of putrefaction fanned him
momentarily, stifling his breathing.

"What does it mean? Where are we?" asked Supramati in astonishment,
scanning the endlessness drowned in purple light that lay before him.

5812

"This is four dimensional space — the dominion of the incorporeal,"
replied Dagir with a smile.

"You mean at this moment we are something in the nature of beingdead?"

"You might say that. We are penetrating their kingdom and experiencing
the same feeling that the spul does on departing from its corporeal shell."

During this conversation the powerful air current continued to carry them
with headlong force. . . (Examining the occult world, invisible to the simple
earthly mortal, Supramati and Dagir depart for a planet invisible from
earth where the Tsar of the Larvs maintains his residence. This is a small
dead planet of the solar system. It is very close to the earth, but obscure
and invisible. The two quickly start for this planet).

"We are nearing the goal of our journey," said Dagir. "Do you see that
immense black outline? That is the corpse of a small world — our neighbor
of whose existence our astronomers have not the vaguest idea."

Suddenly, it seemed to Supramati that he had been seized by a whirlwind
and was being whisked away. Then the feeling changed and it seemed that
he was falling, drawn by a powerful current. He was overcome by a fiery,
dense and saturated odor of putrefaction. Then this sleepy, torpid and
semiconscious feeling was replaced by another sensation. It seemed to him
that he was standing at the window of a train and looking out on a strange
and obscure landscape spread out before him in pale green, reddish, even
dark purplish colors.

Suddenly, he received an unexpected jolt that closed his eyes. Movement
ceased. They had reached the goal of their journey, arriving at the ruins
of a colossal temple on the new planet. . . (after looking around the planet
and conversing with its inhabitants, Dagir and Supramati set forth on their
return to earth).

Dagir lifted his sceptre — and in the air there became visible a fiery
symbol. Supramati became faint and felt a powerful force seize him and
carry him through space. Then by the successive jolts, different light,
and rending vibrations, Supramati knew that they had entered the atmospheric
belt of the earth.

Then he suddenly felt a hard and unexpected bump, as if he had crashed
into something, and the flight halted. A few minutes later he saw with
surprise that he was in the same crystal pavilion which he had left behind
when he went with Dagir to penetrate the four dimensional world.

As if through a haze, he saw that the pavilion was now illuminated with a
purple light, and he remembered that he had drunk from the goblet standing
on the table. He was overcome by a deep somnolence and lost consciousness.

When he opened his eyes he found himself in his bed and understood that
his journey had ended.

Astral flight of the Magus to a star

The writer V . I . Kryzhanovskaya in her novel "The Legislators"*
(Petrograd, p. 328, 1916) describes how one of the "great devoted," the
Magus Ebramar, and the female magus Nara ascend to a star. The ascent
occurs from the planet to which the Magi migrated from earth after the
latter 's destruction. Here is how the author tells of how this phenomenon
occurred:

• "Zakonodateli."

Ebramar, after several thousands of years of life, informs his pupils
of his departure:

"I am going to a star which we call the star of the Magi, of which you
know, having studied the celestial map. She always appears at a time when
the Great Missionary, the Son of Light, resting there and preparing for a
high appointment, descends to earth in order to place on himself a heavy
garment of flesh and accept a bloody and terrible end. This blessed star
will send down to me a ray and 1 will ascend to it."

At last came the day designated by Ebramar and with the approach of
night, the final preparations were made. The Magi, male and female, and all
the hierophants donned festive white garments, and lined up on both sides
of a long gallery leading from the gates of a sanctuary to a secluded small
square in granite cliffs, in whose interior there was carved out an
underground city. Here the supreme hierophants assembled. In the middle
of the square was a golden dais around which there blazed blue flames,
and at the four sides stood the great astrologers who knew how to speak in
the tongue of the stars.

Around four o'clock in the morning a burst of thunder shook the walls
of the underground temples, the gates to the sanctuary were flung open, bright
light poured out from within, and then Ebramar was revealed encircled
by transparent vapor. Seven rays formed around his head like a glittering
wreath, on his handsome face there radiated an expression of indescribable
bliss and rapture, and he pressed a magic sword to his breast. His toes
did not touch earth and he drifted along the gallery like a vision, and all
those present followed after him.

Ascending to the square, Ebramar stopped or, more accurately, hovered
over the golden dais, and those who had gathered there by this time burst
into a hymn of glorious and wondrous melody.

Quiet reigned, even nature herself appeared silenced. In the air not the
slightest motion could be felt; the night became warm, fragrant, luxuriant,
and only a barely audible crackle suggested that in the air something unusual
was taking place. Then the four astrologists burst into a marvelous song
in a secret language known only to the stars and suddenly, in the sapphire-
blue heaven, a bright star lit up and from the depth of infinity a golden ray
filled the square with an extraordinarily bright lambent color. The air
swarmed with transparent and bright beings, protectors of this earth, spirits
of the sphere; finally four groups of spirits shone — servants of the great
devoted — and four fiery bands bound up Ebramar with them.

"Thank you, higher spirits of the elements, for your faithfulness, obedience
and service."

For a moment Ebramar's gaze wandered among the assembled.

"Greetings, scholars, friends, pupils, please accept my gratitude."

"Take your repose, friend and untiring toiler, in the abode of the unspoken, "
said the supreme hierophant, raising his hand.

At this moment a bright flash of lightning fell on Ebramar with a mighty
flame and lighted up the rays of his wreath. The assembled, excluding the
astrologists and supreme hierophants, fell to their knees and their eyes
were offered a strange sight. The terrestrial body of Ebramar burned
and the liberated radiant astral flew along the golden ray at a dizzy speed.

In the twinkling of an eye, the covering of one of the female Magi blazed
up and her body fell to the ground, and from it there was discharged a
glittering shadow like a silver moth. This was Nara following after her

beloved teacher. Minutes later the vision paled, the beings faded away and
the ray and shadows were extinguished.

On the golden dais there remained only a small handful of phosphorescent
ash, and Ebramar's pupils gathered his remains with veneration and
placed them in a crystal urn crowned with a cross.

Nara's body did not burn but became light, lissom and remarkably
transparent, resembling a wax statue breathing light.

Occultism in interplanetary journeys

Alexander Yaroslavskii, in his Utopian novel "Argonauts of the Universe"
(Moscow-Leningrad, 1926, p. 155), describes the flight of his main characters,
Goryanskii, his wife Elena, and child Muks, from the earth to the moon in
a jet-propelled radium craft; these characters are placed in a difficult
situation when on arriving at the moon they discover that for some
unexplainable reason their supply of radium is gone, and the means of return
to earth cut off. But at this moment Elena falls into a trance. Her face,
notwithstanding her wide open eyes, is like one sleeping and shines as though
illuminated from within.

Responding to a call, she leads her husband, as if in a dream, to a cave
where she finds radium which she hands over to him.

And he received it from the hands of Elena in an impossible and
fantastic way. "Or, perhaps, the occultists are right and the unreal, the
pretersensual, exists? " Suddenly on the dark pink granite there appear
ordinary Russian letters, in shimmering gold. "Do not fear, I am not a spirit,
not a ghost! I am just as much alive, thinking, and rejoicing as youl It is
only that I am older than you, much older: indeed, I am more than ten
thousand years oldl I am speaking to you from a faraway world and will
help you, for you and I are one. But we have advanced incalculably,
immeasurably, in comparison with you, terrestrial brothers. 1 can produce
as much radium as you want, but that is not important I There are other
forces, an immeasurable quantity of forces, some of which you will know one
day, that are much more powerful than radium; they are the manifestation
of one universal force which we know. With the help of this force I .speak
with you now from a distance which light passes in hundreds of millions
of years.

"The planets do not live a separate life — they are bound up with each
other by a sublime force of attraction whose essence will be incomprehensible
to you for a long time. Besides this, light constantly flows between them
like blood in the organism. The movement of light is the true blood
circulation of the universe; the bodies of the planets exchange rays like
kisses. The most slender, elusive particles — embryos of life and bacteria —
are transferred by light rays by virtue of radiation pressure from one
planet to the other — the planets fertilize each other.

"You have an Indian legend about rice and wheat falling from heaven —
that is true: not only rice and wheat but many, many more gifts have you
received from other planets, but the greatest of all you have received from
our moon, where there were wise beings and civilization when the burning
young earth was still a small sun.

"As soon as the earth started to cool, fearless men on the moon came to
the earth on craft similar to your rocket and on other mechanisms which
you would not understand. However, these also battled stiffly with the
elements. . . and many of them perished, particularly from terrestrial
bacteria.

"But, again and again, craft flew from the moon to earth and finally the
newcomers settled in, the earth became like a colony of the moon.

"Your legend of Adam is not without some foundation, and when the
anthropoid apes appeared on earth there were already on her civilized
beings of lunar extraction and the two species developed in a parallel
manner.

"However, with the passing of time there developed far greater and more
interesting prospects for the moon dwellers; communications with the earth
slowed down and were almost forgotten; very rare were the
expeditions to it.

"The myths of the Peruvians of a white god Gvetzago, the Scandinavian
legends and sagas of the fair-haired Baldur, the Chinese myths of dragons
flying from the moon — these are the recollections of them.

"The highly civilized newcomers stood at the head everywhere. They
gave birth to ancient culture. Nearly simultaneously, steam, the airplane
and electricity appeared in Atlantis, China and Egypt. Their civilization
could almost be compared with yours but it bore more of an isolated
character. Your legend of the divine origin of power refers to this epoch.
The titles of Pharaoh and Chinese Emperor ("son of heaven") were
taken literally, for they and their closest associates were really of heavenly
(lunar) ancestry and they and all those surrounding them still recalled this. . .

"There are two races on earth: one that is simple, coarse, earthly,
being born, living and dying, buried in daily labor, thinking only of it; but
there is a dim recollection of the native planet preserved among the
second race: it looks at the stars, it flings at sweet madness, its proud
banner bears the words of the Romans "Sic itur ad astra, " proclaiming
that the road of culture leads to the stars. . .

"Do not be surprised that I write here in your native tongue: the
root of languages is one for all our planetary system, and I write thoughts
clothing them in the letters of a language understood by you, utilizing
power immeasurably faster than light, similar to gravity, power as yet unknown
on earth. I am communicating with you from remote space, and we live
on more beautiful planets.

"The moon serves us only as a storage point, a cosmic port, a temporary
graveyard for those of us (we long ago conquered old age and death) who
desire a rest for a short time from life, tired of immortality, in order to
rise again in the future.

"Sometime, my brother, you too will conquer old age, death, time and space
and will be with us on the planets and suns, for you too are citizens of
the universe.

"You were the first to start conquering interplanetary space, you were
the first to fly to us; on your return to earth let hundreds of new rockets,
hundreds of new craft rush to the first station in outer space — the moon —
and then to the stars and suns, to the boundless space of the universe;

remember, there are no enemies among you except death, time and space,
and having conquered them you will organize love.

"Rejoice over nature everywhere and always 1 We await you in the
ocean of the universe. Farewell, my brotherl Greetings to the earthi "

For a moment the golden letters on the granite trembled and then
disappeared without a trace, as if they had entered the stone.

Elena turned back with the same wide open eyes, mute as before.

Then, awakening and losing the mechanical lifelessness, she rushed
towards Goryanskii:

"What is this? Where are we? I felt just now as though I were walking
without end in an illuminated crystal castle."

"You were really there, my darling," replied Goryanskii gravely,
pointing to the case with radium and relating all that had occurred. . .

Flight of the astral body of man to Mars

Edgar Rice Burroughs in "John Carter of Mars" (Martians) tells of
how Captain John Carter chances to come to Mars and his adventures there.

While traveling in Arizona, Carter finds himself in a strange cave where
he is overcome by sleepiness.

"My drowsiness became intensified" — he says. "I made a superhuman
effort to keep from falling asleep. But in the end I staggered like a drunken
man, leaning against one of the side walls, and then fell on the ground in
a heap.

"Suddenly a dreadful bellow roared through the cave. This was a terrible
blow to my strained nerves. With an inhuman effort I tried to throw off
my numbness. This was not physical exertion — indeed, 1 could scarcely
move one joint — this was an effort of all my will, all my senses and all
my nerves. And something happened! I felt a slight nausea, then a straining
as if a large steel spring were wound up in my body, and in a minute I stood
leaning against the opposite wall of the cave, shaken and excited, and could
not for the life of ine say what had happened.

"Moonlight poured over the front of the cave and I saw my own body in
front of me. It lay in the same position, stretched out on the floor of the
cave with eyes gazing at the entrance and with immovable arms outstretched.
I looked in wild amazement at it and then at myself. I lay there clothed and
stood here completely naked.

"The transition from one state to the other took place so suddenly and so
unexpectedly that at first I could think of nothing else save this strange
transformation.

"I involuntarily walked to the entrance and climbed out of the cave and
stood, sunk in contemplation of faraway Arizona and then glanced up at the
sky. Myriads of stars quietly twinkled, completing the bewitching scene.

"My attention was soon caught by a large star with a reddish hue
shining from afar. It was Mars; gazing at it I felt the effect of some kind
of force over me.

"I do not know why but som.ehow I have always been attracted to that
planet. . .

"Perhaps I, as a soldier, like the name given it in honor of the God of War.
Be that as it may, it radiated a kind of charm. I stood on a ledge
high above the earth and it seemed to me that I heard its call over infinite
distance. Mars beckoned to me; drew me to itself as a magnet draws a
piece of iron.

"A yearning for the faraway star overcame my whole being. I closed my
eyes, stretched out my hand in the direction of Mars, and felt how I, as
fast as one could think, was being drawn high into the vastness of space.
There was a moment of unusual cold and a complete haze. . .

". . .opening my eyes I saw a strange and melancholy scene. I knew
that 1 was on Mars.

"l saw everything so clearly, so tangibly, that 1 did not have to ask whether
1 was sleeping or not. 1 knew absolutely that it was not a dream, it was
reality. My inner consciousness confirmed that I was on Mars. I was
as convinced of this as you are that you are on earth."

After a long series of adventures on Mars which lasted for ten years,
it falls to Carter to save Mars from a lack of air suitable for breathing.

To obtain this. Carter with great hardship reaches the remaining factory
that produces this air; he opens the door with difficulty but becomes
powerless to take another step and falls, and as he falls he sees his Martian
companions go on; then he loses consciousness.

"It was dark when 1 opened my eyes" — he continues. "A strange heavy
garment clothed my body, a garinent that clanked when I sat down. I felt
myself from head to toe. I was clothed, although I was naked when I fell
near the heavy door.

"Through a small opening 1 saw before me a tiny piece of the sky lighted
up by the moon.

"I quickly went out and found myself on a narrow path; I was astonished
by the skies opening before me: there in front of my eyes was the Arizona
valley, and 1 stood on the spot from which I had looked at Mars ten years
ago. . . "

In "John Carter of Mars, " Burroughs includes a description of how Carter
again is carried to Mars in the same manner.

A natural flight of man

V. Kryzhanovskaya in her novel "On a Neighboring Planet"* (Mars) tells
in the following manner of the flight of man without any equipment:

1 . Atarva (a Magus) made a sign with his hand and immediately started
to leave the earth. Rocking quietly he floated in the air, soaring higher
and higher until he finally disappeared in the darkness of night.

This flight took place in one of the refuges of the Magi in the Himalayan
Mountains.

2. The second flight occurred on Mars. The inhabitants of one of the
regions, selenites, are able to fly similarly.

Some young boys and girls, hands joined, spin around in a circle on the
square and then ascend in the air and fly along the cliffs while others
descend lightly and gracefully, like butterflies.

" "Na sosednei planete."

"We have affinities with a birdlike species, so to speak, " smiled Amara
(heroine of the book); "our skeleton in structure resembles that of a bird
and we easily adapt to the rarefied air in the higher layers. . .

"Naturally, we cannot fly in the full sense of the word, but by waving our
arms with regular motions we can float in the air and ascend to a high
altitude."

With these words, she easily ascended in the air like a piece of fluff and
soared upward.

[Another] natural flight of man

The French astronomer Camille Flammarion in his "Along the Waves of
Infinity" describes the flight of the spirit Lumen in his previous
incarnation on one of the planets of the constellation Virgo.

"On the planet of Virgo" — he remarks — "I was able to fly as fast as
I walk. For this I needed no aircraft, although neither there nor on the earth
did I have wings. I cut through the air, using both hands and legs, similar
to a swimmer when he dives and swims under water. Seeing how 1 fly, it is
quite clear to me that I need neither wings nor an Archimedean screw, not
to speak of a balloon. When I want to fly I push up, as if I were to jump,
spread out my arms and float through the air without any effort. Sometimes,
having reached the top of a steep mountain on foot, I jump from it, one leg
tightly pressed against the other, and then 1 slowly descend in an oblique
line in any direction I choose until I stand on firm ground. Sometimes, too,
1 lie in the air and slowly describe an ascending spiral line similar to a
dove returning to his dovecote.

"Imagine, at the time of my earthly incarnation I had many dreams, and
thousands of times in those dreams I lay on the air in exactly the same way
without any effort, naturally, and without any devices."

V. Goncharov's interplanetary psychological machine
(psycho - machine )

In Leningrad, in 1924, a science fiction book by V. Goncharov was published
in two parts: the first part was called "The Psychological Machine" and
the second, "interplanetary Traveler."*

In the book the author describes a journey taken in 1922 by several
earth dwellers to the Moon, Venus and other planets of our solar system and
other worlds.

For this flight he proposes a vehicle called the "psychological machine"
whose work and structure consists of the following:

Principle of the flight. The power putting the craft into motion radiates
from the central nervous system of the pilot, in other words the psychological
force of man serves as its source. The author gives four examples which
graphically illustrate the evidence for the presence of this force.

First example: a hawk falling from the sky on its prey hidden in the
shrubs falls faster, due to its desire, than if a dead hawk fell from this height.

" "Psikho-mashina," "Mezhplanetnyi puteshestvennik."

Second example: when a man throws a stone at a target, he moves
forward and it is as if his desire, transmitted in the wake of the stone,
sends it more quickly to the target.

Third example: you have dropped a glass and not caught it in time but
you mentally try to hold it and this somehow keeps it from falling.

Fourth example: the ascent of an Indian fakir into the air. The fakir,
relying upon the concentrated attention of the viewers, exerts his will and
ascends.

A special magnet is placed in the psychological machine that catches
the waves of universal psychological energy, and when it is lacking in a
given place it can harness the energy of the pilot the more strongly, the
stronger his will.

Structure of the psychological machine. In outward appearance it is
cigar-shaped and made of white, non-heatconducting metal (Figure 52). It
absorbs the energy of people in its accumulators which are in the form of
aluminum-covered tetragonal cases arranged in rows on both sides of the
machine. From them conductors run to a special apparatus resembling
a gramophone because of its loudspeaker. A "psychological compass,"
for example somebody's handkerchief, serves to direct the flight. If this
handkerchief is inserted in the tetragonal glass case, which has a glass globe
inside, empty in the middle and with an indicator, the latter will show which
direction must be taken in order to reach that person. Usually, during long
flights, the machine operates on the psychological energy of the world, but
this energy at the onset passes over via the loudspeaker to the brain of
the pilot who concentrates his thoughts on striving for the known person and
then the machine moves. The machine is about 5 meters long and 2 meters
in diameter. Inside, besides two rows of accumulators, there are glass
vessels fixed to the walls in threes and filled with a turbid liquid for
the purpose of producing oxygen for breathing.

FIGURE 52. Goncharov's interplanetary psychologica] machine

In the second machine, which is of a more perfect type, instead of a
gramophone -like loudspeaker another device is used. The pilot wears a

ring which has conductors from the accumulators where the psychological
energy is stored on both sides. The psychological energy is gathered as
before. An ordinary conductor extends from the front protuberance of the
ring; it leaves the machine and then breaks up into a whole network of
conductors smaller in diameter; these blanket the whole envelope of the
machine. Before take-off, the pilot assumes an air of concentration, exerts
his will, and the machine ascends.

To the right of the pilot there is an apparatus registering altitude and to
the left one registering the speed.

Flight. The speed of flight is equal to or even faster than the speed
of thought. The trip from the earth to the moon is completed within a
few minutes, the distance from Venus to the earth is covered in three hours.
During the flight in interstellar space, the machine must descend on the
planets encountered to charge the psychological accumulators; this is more
easily accomplished there since the inhabitants are more cultured.

A stronger machine is capable of flying 4 billion kilometers in five
minutes.

Conclusions. The only idea worthy of note in the whole book is the
idea of exploiting psychological energy. There are experiments now
current in this context, but thus far there are no results which could be
applied in practice.

Telepathy

Many scientists and investigators have for a long time observed the
phenomenon of thought transference. It is apparent that we are concerned
here with the transference of a certain energy whose source is man, and
which is now undergoing experimental study. Interesting and successful
experiments have been conducted by the British Society of Psychical
Research (1883) and French professor Charles Rich (1888). Other
experiments in this field have been conducted and analyzed in France by
Varcolle, in the United States by Dr. Morney at Columbia University, in
Boston by the Society of Psychical Research, and in particular by Harvard
University under Dr. Easterbrook.

In one of the medical institutes in Leningrad, A. E. Mendelshtam and
Dr.D.P. Brovkin have carried out a number of highly interesting experiments
that are the first steps towards research into the radiobiology of the
human organism.

For this purpose, a generator (transmitter) and a receiver for catching
radiowaves were installed. As the patients moved there was observed a
greater or lesser deviation in the needle of the sensitive galvanometer
connected with the receiver. In order not to affect the reflection of the
radiowaves, a record of the deviation of the galvanometer needle was made
with the help of a telescope by an observer standing 13 meters from the
receiver.

The experiments revealed that every living organism has an individual
capacity for reflecting short electromagnetic waves.

To speak now of the application of this force of thought transference in
technology is, of course, premature, all the more so since the existence of
the force itself is disputed by many; yet in any event, to anticipate the idea

of applying it as a propellant for an interplanetary vehicle, as Goncharov
has done in his book, is interesting.

THE ROCKET SHIPS OF ATLANTIS

The writers and historians of antiquity — Homer, Solon, Herodotus,
Diodorus and Plato — refer in their writings to the massive continent that
was once in the Atlantic Ocean. On this continent, Atlantis, there lived
millions of people; its cultural standards were high, its cities and harbors
rich, its rulers powerful, but all this sank beneath the sea as the result of
terrible earthquakes and the eruption of volcanos.

Around 1800, reports on the existence and destruction of Atlantis appear
in the works of the Rosicrucians, Illuminati and Masons, and later among the
theosophists. These reports are based on evidence found in ancient Indian
books inaccessible to the layman and preserved in the vaults and temples of
India. The theosophists further conclude that the ancestors of the people of
Atlantis flew there from another planet. On the basis of these mystical
writings, unsupported by historical documentation, it is possible for one to
conjure up a picture of the development of aviation already in that remote
epoch. Here is how this development might be sketched:

"The beginning of the history of Atlantis started 4 million years before
the common era. The first law-givers of this race were people with a
highly developed intellect and immense spiritual power. They knew the
arts of ro.agic to perfection and could exploit the forces of nature
extensively.

"They constructed aerial vehicles of a light metal resembling aluminum,
and of specially processed wood.

"The vehicles were of different types and could carry 5 to 100 persons
in the air. The material of the vehicle was very durable and shone in the
dark.

"Serving in the capacity of a moving force were either the "human vrille"
(the personal, strangely magnetic force concealed within man which the
people of Atlantis possessed) or the massive power of an electro-ethereal
substance obtained from the atmosphere.

"The vehicle consisted of a central frame, side wings, keels and rudders.
P'rom an inner compartment a stream of the substance was ejected through
two longitudinal pipes to the tail. These pipes were mobile and easily
regulated ,

"In addition, from the central compartment there followed another eight
pipes which branched out in pairs below. The substance ejected from the
vertical pipes produced the reaction to raise the vehicle. When this reached
a certain altitude, the longitudinal pipes went into action, communicating a
forward movement to the vehicle. Then the vertical pipes ceased their
work and a supporting force was obtained, as in an airplane, due to its wings.

"These rocket ships, as they may justifiably be called, were automatically
controlled with the help of a sight-compass directed at the spot of the
designated flight. Flight speed reached 20Dkm/hr and altitude 300 — 400 m.
Overflight of mountains was avoided since it was considered that at such
an altitude the air was rarefied (?) and unable to maintain the craft.

"At the onset the inhabitants of Atlantis (a red race) were a devout people,
rich and happy, and the Golden Age ruled. Then the cult of Satan arose, the
people forgot their gods, started wars, morality declined. . . the gods were
enraged and wrought their vengeance. A disaster struck the country, which
the theosophists place at 9564 B.C. However, the hierophants, remaining
faithful to their gods, had foreseen the disaster and escaped on their
aircraft to neighboring countries: Africa, America. . . where they built up
new colonies. Some of them, it is said, even flew to the moon and other
planets."

FIGURE 53. Atlantis and its rocket ships

In Figure 53, the artist has portrayed the capital of Atlantis, the Golden
Gate City, with its towers, observatories, harbor, channels and buildings.
Overhead fly the rocket ships. In Figure 54, we see the destruction of
Atlantis, sinking under the sea, and in Figure 55, the escape of the hierophants
in a rocket ship.

OTHER VOYAGES IN FOUR DIMENSIONAL SPACE

Travel in four dimensional space is treated in different ways by
writers. Some approach the question from the geometrical point of view,
others from the mathematical, the third group from the occult, and the
fourth considers time as a fourth dimension. The preceding section on
Atlantis described a flight in four dimensional space from the occult point
of view. H.G.Wells in the story "Mr. Plattner" describes the flight of a
schoolteacher, Mr . Plattner, in four dimensional space from the geometrical
point of view. Here is how the flight takes place:

One of Plattner's students brings him an apothecary's measuring glass
containing a greenish powder. Plattner, in the attempt to analyze it, puts
a flame to the glass. The powder begins to glow, fuse, and suddenly there
is a terrible explosion. . . Plattner finds himself in four dimensional space.
He is able to walk through walls, people are able to walk through him, etc.
He remains like this for nine days iintil he stumbles on a stone and falls on
the side where the glass with the green powder is lying inside his pocket;
another terrible explosion and Plattner with astonishment sees himself
again in three dimensional space.

Travel in four dimensional space presents no special problem to the
mathematicians. They can calculate the properties not only of four
dimensional space but even higher dimensions. It is sufficient to recall
the work of Lobachevskii, Riemann, Gauss, and others.

If we consider time as a fourth dimension, interesting themes for
authors arise; of them we have chosen excerpts from H. G.. Wells and

FIGURE 54. Destruction of Atlantis

V. Nikol'skii. In "The Time Machine" Wells describes the journey of a man
into the past and the future.

The hero of the book, who is called the Time Traveller, constructs
first a model of a time machine, and then the machine itself.

FIGURE 55. Hierophants of Atlantis escape on a rocket ship

The model consisted of a glittering metallic framework, scarcely larger
than a small clock, and very delicately made. There was ivory in it, and
some transparent crystalline substance.

The model looked singularly askew, and there was an odd twinkling
appearance about the bar, as though it were in some way unreal.

Placing the mechanism on the table, the Time Traveller pointed to two
levers. One lever, on being pressed, sent the machine gliding into the future,
and the other reversed the motion. The Time Traveller pressed the first
lever and the model suddenly swung round, became indistinct, was seen as
a ghost for a second perhaps, as an eddy of faintly glittering brass and ivory,
and then it was gone, vanished.'

The large machine was a copy of the model.

Parts were of nickel, parts of ivory, parts had been filed or sawn out of
rock crystal. In this machine, the Time Traveller intended to explore time.

Here is how he describes his departure:

"I gave it a last tap, tried all the screws again, put one more drop of oil
on the quartz rod, and sat myself in the saddle. . . I pressed the first lever,
and almost immediately the second. I seemed to reel. . . The laboratory
got hazy and went dark. . . " The author describes the impressions of his
flight into future time extending for many thousands of years; he sees the
future Golden Age,the decline of life on earth, its transformation into a
planetary corpse, and, finally, returns to the present time in his laboratory.

The end of the book finds the Time Traveller again disappearing in his
Time Machine, never to return. The author does not say whether the
Time Traveller is carried back to the past centuries or whether he again
departs for the future.

NIKOL'SKII'S CHRONOMOBILE

Wells' notion of a time machine is reflected in V. Nikol'skii's book "In
One Thousand Years."* The main character in this book. Professor
Farbenmeister, invents a time machine in Berlin which he describes as
• "Cherez tysyachu let."

follows: Working on the nature of cosmic rays I discovered a way to
separate a part of space and make it move at a desired speed in the
"direction of time" by a special kind of ultra -high frequency electrical
oscillation. The "chronomobile" (Figure 56) is built on this principle. Its
form is spherical, it is 3 — 4 meters high and has two small round illuminators
covered with thick glass, an entrance hermetically sealed, and a porthole.
The outer surface of the sphere is covered with a compound of geocoronium
in which the inventor produces new electrical oscillations that isolate the
entire apparatus from the surrounding space and time and serve as an
invincible shell to which neither time nor matter is a threat. .The shell
is necessary in order to prevent travelers arriving at the shores of the
future from colliding with some material obstacle.

FIGURF 56. Nikolskii's chronomobile.

Inside the craft there are engines and electric generators from which
there lead ropes and cables, intertwined around the marble switchboard.

There are also lamps and two armchairs.

A meter registering the movement of the craft in time is attached to the
switchboard. When the meter needle stops at zero, time stops for the
travelers. When it moves to the right they are carried into the future, when
to the left, they are carried into the past.

Professor Farbenmeister and a Russian engineer, Andrei Osorgin, set
forth on the journey. At first they travel into the past, moving back for
50,000 years, and then 1,000 years into the future.

Their adventures on earth 1,000 years in the future are described. There
is also a love story introduced between Osorgin, who finds the young girl Ree
in the future, slays a rival, and returns to the present in the "chronomobile"
where he had left his brother Rep, after which he flies back into the future.

FLIGHT IN THE FOURTH DIMENSION ACCORDING
TO N. A. MOROZOV

N. A. Morozov, in his letters from the Shiisselburg fortress (written in
1891 and issued in 1910 under the title "At the Border of the Unknown"* —
Scientific Semi- Fantasies), sketches a picture of flight in the fourth
dimension, understanding this as time.

"If" — he says — "we could not only be passively carried by a uniform
course of time into some unknown remoteness but could also travel along
it into the past and future at our will! Then, of course, time would appear
to be only one of the directions, like those of up and down, backward
and forward, left and right. . . "

The author goes on to describe a voyage into the past and future with
some imprisoned comrades and in humorous form depicts the shock of the
prison warders on learning of their disappearance from prison, the meeting
with King Solomon, the movement of objects in a reverse direction during
their return from future and present time to the past, etc.

granitse nevedomogo."

Epigraph

We inhabit the stars...
We — ate in the sky!
The Earth carries us into space...

"Stella" C.Flammarion

Chapter VII

FLIGHTS ON CELESTIAL BODIES

Flight into the highest layers of the atmosphere on a
magic arrow

In 1711 a book was published in Paris entitled "Gongam or the Wild
Man in Space, in the Bottomless Seas and Earth." Titetoophneuf . The
hero, Gongam, travels across the world on a magic arrow, starting from the
highest layers of the atmosphere and rapidly being carried over the earth.

This is a repetition of Herodotus' idea — he tells of a similar voyage
by Arabis. the Hyperborean, who possessed a magic arrow that transported
him to any place in the universe.

K'?yT'WiiJi>-^'" is." .>=^' ■SB- ■■- -

FIGURE 57. Voyage on a sunray

5812

Micromegas journeys to the stars and the planets
on a sunray and on a comet

The French philosopher Voltaire (1694 — 1778) in his "Microme'gas,
Histoire philosophique," 1752, describes the voyage of an inhabitant of
the star Sirius to the different planets of the solar system, among them
earth. Micromegas is 32 kilometers tall. Enlisting the forces of gravity
and laws of attraction and repulsion, he takes off from Sirius with the help
of a light-ray and also a certain comet and is carried from star to star,
finally arriving at Saturn. Here he meets up with one of its dwellers, who
looks like a dwarf since he is only 3 kilometers tall, whom he invites to
journey on with him.

They jump on a ring of Saturn which appears to be flat, and then cross
over from one satellite to another. Chancing to see a comet passing by,
they move over to it with their servants and instruments. After flying
for about 600 million kilometers, they meet a satellite of Jupiter and then
come down on Jupiter itself, where they live for a year.

Flying further for some 400 million kilometers they land on Mars.
Finally, abandoning Mars they fly on and see the earth, where they decide
to stop. Crossing the tail of a comet and finding themselves in the region
of the northern lights, they pass over and from there return to earth, landing
on the northern shores of the Baltic Sea. This was on 7 July 1737.

Voyage in the planetary system on an aerolite

In 1838, Boitard published a book in France (Voyage aux planetes) on his
travels in the planetary system together with the devil atop an aerolite,
stopping first on the Sun and then on Mercury, Venus, Mars, Uranus and
the Moon.

Communication from Mars to earth by meteorite,
according to Uminskii

V. Uminskii, in his story "Unknown World"* (Mars i ego zhiteli,
St. Petersburg, 1897), describes the fancies of a mad astronomer who
communicates the news that the inhabitants of Mars have sent a message
to earth via a meteorite 1 kilometer in diameter that has flown close to
Mars and is due to fall on earth.

Flying on a comet from Mercury to Mars

The French writers Le Faure and Graffigny in "Aventures extraordinaires
d'un savant russe" describe how several travelers, finding themselves on
Mercury, are carried from there to that part of the planet cut off during a

• "Nevedomyi mir."

collision with Tuttle's comet (Figure 58). Flying in its orbit near to
Mercury and colliding with it (Figure 59), it turns round the sun and carries
the travelers to Mars.

■'■? .5?^~ .

FR'URK 5a. Journey on the tail of a comet

FIC.URE 59. Orbit of Tuttle's comet

Flight to the moon on a comet

The German writer Karl Meier-Lemgo in his "Voyage to the Moon.
The Adventure of Two Children on the Moon" (translated from German,
1924) writes of the imaginary flight of two children to and from the moon
on the back of a comet (Figure 60). To protect them from the heat and
cold the comet gives them two warm magic coats. In the pockets of these
coats there are always supplies of magic sandwiches and millc. The children
breathe by swallowing from a bottle filled with magic juice. During the
flight a jolt sends the girl flying but she is caught in time.

FIGURE 60. Flight of two children on a comet to the moon

The story, which is told in entertaining form, contains a description of a
flight in outer space and notes the most troublesome aspects of such a
flight: cold, heat, and lack of air.

Flight on a comet to the sun

Jules Verne in his novel "Hector Servadac" (Russian translation, Moscow,
1887) describes the collision of a comet with the earth; in this, part of the
earth with its inhabitants is carried off by the comet.

Here is how the main event of the book is described:

The astronomer Palmiren Rozett sees an unknown comet in the sky,
determines its course and calls it "Gallia." Calculations reveal that the
comet must collide with the earth in that part where Algeria is situated.
The collision takes place exactly as the astronomer computed. The comet,
having a nucleus, skids on the earth and rips off part of its surface with
several people (Captain Servadac, his orderly Ben-Zuf, the astronomer,
several Englishmen and Spaniards, two children and a Jew).

The collision, according to Verne, takes place as follows:

Suddenly Captain Servadac and Ben-Zuf found themselves stretched out
on the ground, struck by a formidable force. Why at this very moment
should the horizon change so abruptly in such an unusual way that the eyes
of the most experienced sailor would be unable to find the line where
heaven meets earth?

Why did the waves reach a height never before admitted by the scientists?

Why did the ground open with such an unimaginably dreadful crash and
roar, as if the very frame of the earth had split, why was there heard
the terrible roar of waves raging at a normal depth and the whistle of
atmospheric layers whirling like a cyclone?

Why did there suddenly appear an unusual color in the sky, brighter than
the northern lights, eclipsing for a moment the brilliance of all the stars?

Why did the basin of the Mediterranean Sea suddenly become empty and
then fill up again with raging waves?

Why did the light of the moon become abruptly magnified to such an
extent that this night star, 384,000 kilometers from the earth, suddenly moved
to 40,000 kilometers from the earth?

Why did an enormous flaming spheroid, unknown to the cosmographers,
appear in the sky and then disappear behind the dense layers of clouds?

Finally, what strange phenomenon produced this upheaval, so deeply
shaking the earth, seas, sky, in a word, all of space?

As a result of the collision, the comet carries off a fragment of the globe
including that part of the Mediterranean from Gibraltar to Malta with part
of Algeria.

The comet and fragment of the earth after the collision describe an
elliptical orbit in the universe, cutting across the orbits of Venus and Mars
during their journey, and after two years are again due to approach the
earth. The heroes of the book utilize these factors to return to earth. They
construct a large balloon which they fill with hot air, and then placing
everything in the balloon basket await the moment when the atmosphere of
the comet, while approaching earth, comes in contact with earth's atmosphere
They ascend shortly before the contact; by their calculations the balloon
should slip through from one atmosphere to the other, avoiding a direct hit,
and after remaining for some time in the earth's atmosphere should
descend safely to earth.

Here is how the flight over the earth takes place:

The last cables were cut and the balloon majestically ascended in the
air above "Gallia."

Above the boat in a somewhat oblique direction the disk of the globe in
all its splendor could be seen. It appeared to fly on "Gallia" and its mass
eclipsed a huge part of the sky. . . (Figure 61).

Suddenly the passengers felt a vibrauon: Gallia's atmosphere had
entered the earth's atmosphere dragging with it the balloon which threatened
to burst.

4 ^ J

FIGURE 61 The desce t of Jules Verne s he oes f om the comet to earth in
a balloon

In horror they grasped the side of the boat. . . The atmospheres fused;
thick clouds formed. The passengers were now unable to see anything,
either above or below; it seemed to them that they were encircled on all
sides by a huge flame, that their legs had lost their point of support, and
without knowing how they found themselves on earth. They returned
exactly as they had left — unconscious.

Not a trace of the balloon remained.

"Gallia" flew away in an oblique direction; against all expectation it only
touched the globe lightly and disappeared to the east.

After a two-year voyage in the solar system, all the characters of the
book returned safe and sound to the same place from which they had started.

Journey of Martians to earth on a comet, according
to Uminskii

V.Uminskii, in his story "Unknown World" (Mars i ego zhiteli,
St. Petersburg, 1897) tells of the hallucinations of an insane astronomer who
reports that some Martians have flown to earth on a comet at a speed of
1,000 km/sec.

Flight on a meteorite

In the story "Invisible Beings"* (Mir priklyuchenii. No. 9, p. 55, 1926),
N. Kopylov describes how a fallen meteorite brings microscopic living
creatures to earth, who move with the help of minute cigar-shaped implements
fashioned out of alloys of silver, platinum, uranium and an unknown element
resembling radium. The latter apparently serves as an operating mechanism
for the craft. However, the unskillful treatment of the "invisible beings"
brings about their death and the scientist is unable to decipher the mystery
of their craft and from whence they had come.

The flight of two astral bodies on a comet from
earth to mars

C. Flammarion in his book "Stella" describes how the hero Raphael
Darjilan and his wife Stella, during a trip to the Alps, see one night from a
mountain top a comet approaching the earth. The entire surroundings to
a great distance are illuminated by the electricity generated during the
flight of the enormous bolide; the couple appear to be enveloped in flames,
due to the discharge of this unusual mass of electricity, and die at the height
of bliss, loving each other and intoxicated with the wonders of the celestial
world.

But their souls continue to exist although they have flown from the earth,
carried into space by the comet which, barely touching the earth's atmosphere
with the end of its tail, proudly continues on its journey to the constellations.
Soaring like two birds over the mountain tops, becoming closer than they
had been on earth and merging into one double being, these souls appear to be
asleep, dreaming, carried on a shining cloud which rapidly ascends into
the starry sky (Figure 62). Raphael is the first to awaken and finds that
he is holding Stella in his arms. Their bodies are identical with earthly

* "Nevidimki."

bodies, but are weightless and consist of an electrical substance — astral
fluid bodies that are bearers of the spirit and are the intermediate link
between celestial and terrestrial organisms. Then Stella awakens and
smiles at the pink glow surrounding her, unaware of the change they have
undergone. Raphael himself does not recognize that they are being
carried by a comet. Just as we appear to be standing still while riding in
a balloon at the speed of the wind, so too the souls of the couple do not feel
the enormous speed with which they are being carried in celestial space;
they imagine that they are dreaming enchanting dreams following after their
intoxicating love.

FIGURE 62. The flight of Flammarion's heroes, Raphael and
Stella, on a comet to Mars

The comet, whose flaming tail nearly seizes the earth, soars higher with
dizzying speed in the direction of our neighbor. Mars. Due to a combination
of celestial movements, it happens that the globular star gripped Mars just
before it touched the earth, and the souls of our couple see with astonishment
that they are nearing a planet wholly unlike the one where they have been

■ill

up to this moment — a planet on whose surface there spread reddish plains,
straight lines of verdure never seen by them before, numerous glistening
canals and light human-like creatures flying in the air. Suddenly they feel
they are quietly descending on this planet, like the falling stars they have
often seen smoothly and slowly descending on earth and leaving behind
a luminous, almost immobile cloud.

The astral body has the ability to condense atmospheric fluids on some
planets and form new organisms from them. One of the advantages of this
ability is that the ethereal being is not compelled to be born in the womb
of the mother and then appear as a senseless child. Transported to another
world, the soul although born there emerges in the full bloom of all its force.

Raphael and Stella live on Mars to this very day.

Transmission of a manuscript from a star of Cassiopeia
to earth by meteor

Among the stars of the constellation Cassiopeia there is a particular
ternary star consisting of one handsome yellow star of magnitude 4.5 and
two small ones of the 9th and 10th magnitudes.

In 1855 this complex star was the theme of an English novel — "The Star
of Cassiopeia, a remarkable history of one of the worlds in space, a
description of the unique nature, customs, journeys and literary works of
its inhabitants." The introduction, written in poetry with a great expenditure
of eloquence, tells us that the manuscript now in our possession has come
from another world and was found inside a meteor which fell in the
Himalayas. In the book the author conjures up a system of worlds so well
put together that they could not last one week. He describes creatures so
uniquely organized that they have no head, arms, legs, or chest, although in the
drawing attached he tries to give a picture of a small family, representatives
of this world, composed of a man, woman and child. The entire nature is
essentially terrestrial, but the transformation, or rather the distortion,
is such that the anonymous author has presented us with a handsome proof
of the substantiation of the premise that the human imagination cannot
create an image; it can only make a combination of parts of objects known
to it, assemble different parts into one whole or reject parts from the known
whole .

Chapter VIII

FLIGHTS ON AIRCRAFT

At the end of the preceding chapter, there was a description of people
flying from a comet to earth in a balloon. Various writers have concocted
a multitude of similar flights in balloons, airplanes and other craft.

FIGURE 63.

"Is that Earth? "

"No, just a bit further, third planet to your right:"

Flight to the moon in a balloon

Edgar Allan Poe, in his "The Unparalleled Adventures of One Hans
Pfaall" (1835), describes a flight to the moon by a Dutchman, one Hans
Pfaall, who, in order to escape his creditors, constructs a balloon for this

■■Illlilllllillllli

purpose. From the moon he dispatches a moon-dweller in a balloon to
Rotterdam with a letter for the burgomaster of that city, asking for
permission to return to Holland with impunity for his transgression, in
return for which he will communicate many interesting details of his journey.

Here are some details of the balloon:

The envelope was made of cambric muslin and covered with three coats
of rubber varnish, and there was a basket of wicker-work. A gas was
obtained through the action of a common acid on a special metallic substance
or semimetal; it had previously not been discovered. It is a constituent
part of nitrogen and its density is about 1/37.4 that of hydrogen.
It is tasteless, but not odorless; it burns, and is fatal to animal life. The
volume of the balloon was more than 40,000 cubic feet and it could take up
Hans Pfaall himself with all his implements and 175 pounds of ballast.

Plan of lunar orbit

Moon 6-

' goes toward
Lateral view

FIGURE 6 1. Scheme of Hans Pfaall's balloon flight to the moon

The possibility of flying to the moon through outer space is based on the
assumption that space is filled with an ether, although an extremely rarefied
one; nevertheless, a balloon is capable of flying in it. The ascent itself
would be accelerated in proportion to the decrease of density of the medium.
The gas in the balloon expanding in proportion to the penetration of a less
dense medium would escape, but in such quantity that its lifting power would
always be greater than the weight of the craft and its load.

The author describes how the traveler sets the course of his flight to
the moon.

The flight takes place on 19 April in Rotterdam, Holland. During the
ascent the balloon does not fly in the plane of the lunar orbit, which is
inclined toward the ecliptic at an angle of 5°4'48", but in the direction mn and
only then in its plane, i.e., along the line np (Figure 64).

The time for the flight is selected when the moon is in perigee (place b),
i.e., when it is closest to earth. The traveler is faced with a journey of
231,920 miles, i.e., the distance between the surfaces of moon and earth
in perigee.

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FIGURE 65. The flight of two Frenchmen from earth to the
moon in a balloon

The story further describes the arrival of the balloon on the moon and
the meeting with its inhabitants.

FIGURE 66. The flight of two Frenchmen from the moon to Saturn on bats

Two Frenchmen journey from earth to the moon in a balloon

Sometime around 1900 a book appeared in Paris under the title of
"Voyage dans la lune avant 1900 par A. de Ville d'Avray." This was a
colored picture-book for children with explanatory captions describing the
humorous voyage of two Frenchmen, Baboulfiche and his servant Papavouen,
to the moon in a balloon, and from there on bats to Saturn. An ordinary
balloon filled with gas was used for the flight; to the balloon there was
attached a gondola seating the two travelers (Figure 65). In order to save
themselves from lunar monsters the voyagers mount some bats and fly
into space, but an oncoming comet unseats them from the bats and they fall
on Saturn, whose inhabitants are reminiscent of butterflies in their
development: in the beginning they crawl, like their larvae, and then fly.
After sundry adventures, the travelers are attacked by flying lizards who
tear them to pieces, and they in horror. . . awaken. The whole voyage is
just a dream.

Descent by comet towards Mars' satellite "Phobos" and then
onto Mars by balloon

Le Faure and Graffigny, in their book "Aventures extraordinaires d'un
savant russe" (1889), tell how several travelers, having fallen on a fragment
of Mercury torn from it by Tuttle's comet and being carried along with the
latter, decide to transfer to Mars' satellite "Phobos" when the comet flies
near it. For this purpose they fill the balloon with hydrogen and attach a
basket in which they sit in pressure suits (the atmosphere of the comet is
composed of carbon dioxide, which is unsuitable for breathing). When the
proper moment arrives, they ascend from the surface of the fragment of
Mercury and are soon in the atmosphere of "Phobos" and seated on its
surface, with the exception of one traveler who lost his grip when the
balloon became lighter on landing and was carried off into space in the
direction of Mars. The balloon, ascending high in the air, flies over the zone
of attraction of "Phobos" and starts to fall on Mars. Four hundred meters
from Mars' surface the balloon abruptly changes its course, and instead
of pursuing a vertical direction flies in a horizontal one: it falls into a
powerful air current, artificially produced by the Martians who use this
method to accelerate the flight of their craft. In this current the travelers
fly over the ocean of Kepler and with great difficulty land on dry land
(Figure 67).

Descent from the moon by parachute is outlined by A. Laurie in his
"Les exiles de la terre." A description of this will be found in the next
volume of this series in connection with other artificial alterations of lunar
movement.

Five men fly to a satellite of Mars on an air ship

In 1744, there was published in Germany E. C. Kindermann's "Rapid
Voyage of an Air Ship to the Heavens, Which Was Accomplished Recently

by Five Persons with the Aim of Learning whether on 10 July of This Year
the Planet Mars Would Appear for the First Time, in all the Years of the
Existence of the World, with Some Satellite or Moon."*

FIGURE 67. Descent of balloon on Mars

The story is about five young persons: Auditus, Visus, Odor, Gustus and
Tastus (hearing, vision, odor, taste and touch), who decide to travel to a
satellite of Mars. They construct an air ship to a design given to them by
Fama (rumor). A description of this ship would read as follows (Figure 68):
Its gondola is made of light sandalwood (l) and is propelled in the air by
oars (2) and a rudder (3). For this same purpose there is a sail (4). At the
stern of the ship there is a curtain (5) to protect the passengers from the
burning rays of the sun. The supporting and lifting force come from six
light metallic balloons (6), from which air is removed by heating, the lower
apertures of which balloons are closed by cocks. The bracing wire (7)
reinforces the mast and sail, and cables fasten the gondola to the balloons.

Laying in supplies of water and food, and of mushrooms soaked in water,
which must be held to the nose for breathing at high altitudes, they leave
the earth accompanied by winged Fama (rumor).

In Figure 68 there is depicted the flight. Below, we see the earth on
which the people stand to see them off. During the ascent they run into a
storm with thunder and lightning, later they see the lunar crescent (left) and
the planet Venus (right). Beneath the ship winged Fama with a megaphone
can be seen. En route they meet a "resilient body" resembling a man —
an inhabitant of celestial worlds who can move in celestial space at a speed
of 1 million miles an instant.

Later they land safely on a satellite of Mars (above left hand corner,
small circle), live there for a time, become acquainted with its inhabitants
and, finally, return to earth in the same manner.

' Eberhard Christian Kindermann "Die Geschwinde Reise auf dem Luft-Schiff nach der obern Welt.welche
jiingsthin fiinf Personen angestellet, um zu erfahren.ob es eine Wahrheit sey, dass der Planet Mars den
lO.Juli dieses Jahrs das erste mahl.so lange die Welt stehet.mit einem Trabanten Oder Mond erschienen"?
Der untern Welt zu curieuser Gemiiths-Ergotzung und Versicherung dieser Begebenheit mitgetheilet dutch
die allgemeine Fama. 1744.

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FIC'URE Gb. Five men in an air ship fly to a satellite of Mars

'K^J,^ C.

A point of interest in this description is the principle of flying in balloons
from which the air is pumped out. This principle is in essence correct
and could be applied to flights in the atmosphere (but not outer space) if a
balloon whose weight was less than its lifting force could be constructed.

Egor Poddevkin flies to the moon in a plane

Nikolai Ryazanov, in his book "The Adventure of Egor Poddevkin in
an Airplane"* (Kharkov, No. 1, 1924 p. 13), describes the imaginary plane
flight of his hero to the moon:

* "Priklyuchenie Egora Poddevkina na samolete."

"Poddevkin flew and flew, higher and higher. . . looked down below:
somehow the earth had become smaller, something like a saucer. Egor
glanced at the instrument registering how many versts [1 verst =3,500 ft]
the plane had already climbed from earth. He gasped: 300,000 versts'.

'That's great,' he thought to himself, 'at this rate I should now be on the
moon. . . '

"And inti'uth, no sooner had he given voice to his thoughts than the plane
suddenly bumped into something soft. . .

"On the moon Poddevkin found only one old man and after a conversation
with him, started back:

"in five minutes Egor Poddevkin was being borne through the black sky
(from the moon the sky is not blue, as we see it, but black, as at night). Ashe
approached the earth, he was filled with joy: once again he could smell the
fields and the damp sea air.

The Lyakide ornithopter for flight to the planets

A. G. Lyakide, in his "In the Ocean of the Stars"* (Astronomicheskaya
Odisseya, 1892), describes the voyage of two Russian scientists from St.
Petersburg to the different planets of the solar system in a craft built by one of
them in the form of an ornithopter. Its construction consisted of the following:
(Figures 69 and 70). The passenger compartment is in the foi'm of a
flattened hexagon. <^^>

FIGURE 69. . Lyakide's ornithopter on Venus

Inside there is a soft arinchair; in front of the armchair is a control
lever operating through a mechanism hidden in a box. Along the sides of
the compartment huge wings, which are brought into movement by the above-
mentioned mechanism, are fastened. The outer shape of the device is that
of a bird. The wings are of slender, flexible iron rods covered with leather.
On the ground the bird can be rolled about on wheels. The wings spread,
and fold against the compartment, like a bird. To ascend, the mechanism

* "V okeane zvezd."

brings the wings into a flapping movement and the bird arises, easily
maneuvers in the air, and then returns to the starting point. In this
vehicle the passengers fly to the planets. To protect themselves from the
cold of interplanetary space, they set up a glass booth in the compartment
with a stove inside and for breathing they condense air in a special
reservoir. For landing on the moon where it is cold and there is no air,
they don rubber suits containing a supply of warmth and air. These suits
have been treated chemically to prevent heat and cold from penetrating.
The supply or charge of the mechanism operates for seven days. The bird
possesses complete stability and the passengers are able to move about
freely.

FIGURE 70. Lyaktde's ornithopter on Mercury

Conclusions on Lyakide's design: the idea of an ornithopter is indeed in
principle a correct one, that is, there is nothing inconceivable about the
building of a machine with flapping wings for flight in the air, but only in
the air and not in interplanetary space where there would be no point of
support for wings and where Lyakide's bird would be unable to fly. His
devices for protecting the passengers from cold and heat, and for renewing
the air, are naive and not well-founded. In general, the project is not very
instructive.

Ornithopter of the Martians

The writer Aleksei Tolstoi in his novel "Aelita" (1923) describes the
construction of a portable aircraft which the Martians use.

"A remarkable creature described a circle in the indigo-blue sky.
Gradually the huge bird descended. One could see clearly the human-like

100

being sitting in the seat of the flying machine. From the waist down the
rider was suspended in the air; two curved wings flapped at the level of his
shoulders. Beneath him, to the front, there whirled a dark disk— obviously
the propeller. Behind the seat there was a tail with rudders spread out
like a fork. The whole apparatus was as mobile and flexible as a living
being. The Martian flapped his wings, descended, skimmed over the earth,
and jumped from his seat.

In order to ascend, he jumped into his seat and flew off without taking
a run.

Munchausen flies to the moon

Baron Munchausen, hero of the imaginative tales by R. Raspe, describes
two of his journeys to the moon:

First journey

Seeing how two bears had fallen on one bee in order to seize its honey —
he relates — 1 threw a hatchet I had with me at them but the aim was so
clumsy that it flew on the moon. What to do: How could I recover it? 1
remembered that kidney beans grow uncommonly fast and reach amazing
heights. I quickly sat myself on one of the beans. It began to grow and grew
and grew, higher and higher, and soon hooked onto one of the horns of
the moon. It only remained for me to scramble up the stem to the m.oon which
I did, arriving safely; but it was not so easy to find the hatchet. Finally I
located it in a clump of straw.

Now it became necessary to return home — but to my dismay the sun's
burning rays had so dried my stem that to return the way I had come meant
I would break my neck. What to dol I wove for myself a rope out of the
straw. One end of this straw rope I tied to the moon and let myself down
to the other end. Here I firmly grasped it with my left hand and with my
hatchet in my right hand I cut off the end of the rope and tied it to the lower
end (Figure 71).

I repeated this many times and soon found myself so low that I could make
out the place from which I had ascended. I was already four or five miles
from the earth when the rope broke; I fell to the ground with such a terrible
force that I was stunned and found myself in a hole at least 9 sagenes
[19 meters] deep, which had been torn up by my body falling from above.
However, I climbed to the surface, although with difficulty.

Second journey

Later I made a second journey to the moon, one that was much more
pleasant.

I was on an ocean voyage. Suddenly a hurricane lifted our ship at least
a thousand miles above the surface of the water (Figure 72) and carried us
forward with enormous speed; finally, we discerned in the sky a huge
territory, bright and firm, like a glittering island; floating into a convenient
port, we went ashore and were soon convinced that the country was inhabited.
Its inhabitants flew in the air on kites of immense dimensions with three
heads. Here we learned that the Emperor of the Moon was battling against
the Sun. We also saw several inhabitants of Sirius on the moon. Their
faces resembled the face of a huge dog and their eyes sat at the lower edge

101

of the nose or at its tip. They had no eyelids and when they went to sleep
they closed their eyes with the tip of their tongue. Their average height
was 20 feet. The dwellers of the moon reach a height of 36 feet. To eat
they open up a hole in their sides and place the food directly into the stomach.
Animals and people on the moon are born on trees. They keep their heads
under their arms, etc.

(Compare this description with the flight of Lucianus on a sandstorm.p. 29.)

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FIGURE 71. Baron
Munchausen descends
from the moon

J KI 2 It fl of r o

from earth to the moon

102

Epigraph

Let us fly away by the will
Of all-Niistainiiig L-ternal powers
And seek our destiny
In the world of whirling stars.

N.Morozov
"Zve/cinye pesni." Book 2, p. 99

Chapter IX
TECHNICAL DESIGN

In the following technical designs the authors offer a more serious
description of the technical aspects of flying in outer space, which impels
the reader to be persuaded of their absurdity.

FIGURE 13. Connecting the earth with
the moon by a pipe

103

Connecting the earth with the moon by a pipe

The French writer Andre Laurie, in his novel "Les exiles de la terre,"
describes one of his designs to set up communications with the moon, which
is presented to members of the "Lunar Company." This design proposes
the construction of an iron pipe which would reach from the earth to the
moon (Figure 73). The author himself scoffs at this design. The realization
of such a project would take 3,600,000 years, not to mention the impossibility
of building such a pipe and the need to change its length due to the variable
distance of the moon from earth. Besides this, insuperable difficulties would
arise in working in the midst of interplanetary space with its cold and
absence of air. Instead of this, the author proposes another project,
described in the next book of this series (bringing the moon close to the
earth with a magnet).

In 1775, M. D. L. Folic de Rouen tells, in his "Le philosophe sans
pretention ou I'homme rare, " how Scintilla, an inhabitant of Mercury, flies
from his planet to earth in a craft which the author explains (Figure 74).
Electricity serves as its propulsive force.

FIGURE 74. Arrival of Scintilla on earth from
Mercury in an electrical ship

Above the machine two glass globes are located. Its wooden columns are
covered with glass. Between the columns there are springs. In order to
ascend, the globes must be brought into rotary motion, which creates
rarefaction of the atmosphere above. Under the machine there flow streams
of light. The rapidity of ascent is regulated by the speed of globe rotation.

104

Swift's magnetic craft

The Irish writer Jonathan Swift, in his satire "Gulliver's Travels — an
Account of the Four Voyages into Several Remote Nations of the World,"
describes in the part entitled "A Voyage to Laputa" an island that flies in
the air, rising and falling by means of a magnet located on the island.

The description of the magnet, the manner of its support, the mechanics of
flight and the details of ascent, descent and various movements in the air
are as ingenious as they are amusing. The explanation of the system of
progressive motion, which Gulliver delivers in strictly scientific language
accompanied by a lettered diagram, endows the tale with the significance of
mathematical proof, the aim of which obviously is to stiffen its biting irony.

FIGURE 75. Swift's flying island

105

Here is how Swift, through the mouth of Gulliver, tells of meeting the
flying island, and of its working principles:

"l turned back and perceived a vast Opake Body, moving forwards towards
the Island: It seemed to be about two Miles high. . . As it approached nearer
over the Place where I was, it appeared to be a firm Substance, the Bottom
flat, smooth and shining very bright from the Reflexion of the Sea below. . .
I took out my Pocket-Perspective and could plainly discover Numbers of
People moving up and down the Sides of it. . .

"Yet soon after it advanced nearer; and I could see the Sides of it,
encompassed with several Gradations of Galleries and Stairs. . .

"... and in less than Half an Hour. . . the flying Island being raised to
a convenient Height, the Verge directly over me, a Chain was let down from
the lowest Gallery, with a Seat fastened to the Bottom, to which I fixed
myself, and was drawn up by the Pullies."

FIGURE 76. Load-stone of Swift's flying island

106

Gulliver goes on to describe the island (Figure 75):

"The flying or floating Island is exactly circular; its Diameter 7837
Yards or about four Miles and a Half, and consequently contains ten
thousand acres. It is three Hundred Yards thick. Above it lye the several
Minerals in their usual Order; and over all is a Coat of rich Mould. . .

"At the Center of the Island there is a Chasm about fifty Yards in
diameter, from whence the Astronomers descend into a large Dome, which
is therefore called Flandona Cagnole or Asti-onomers Cave; situated at the
Depth of an Hundred Yards beneath the upper Surface of the Adamant. In
this Cave are Twenty Lamps continually burning, which from the Reflection
of the Adamant cast a strong Light into every Part. The Place is stored
with great Variety of Sextants, Quadrants, Telescopes, Astrolabes, and other
Astronomical Instruments. But the greatest Curiosity, upon which the Fate
of the Island depends, is a Load- stone of a prodigious Size, in Shape
resembling a Weaver's Shuttle. It is in Length six yards, and in the thickest
Part at least three Yards over. This Magnet is sustained by a very strong
Axle of Adamant, passing through its Middle, upon which it plays and is
poized so exactly that the weakest Hand can turn it. It is hooped round with
an hollow Cylinder of Adamant, four Foot deep, as many thick and twelve
Yards in Diameter, placed horizontally, and supported by Eight Adamantine
Feet, each Six Yards high. In the Middle of the Concave Side there is a
Groove Twelve Inches deep, in which the Extremities of the Axle are lodged,
and turned round as there is Occasion.

"This Stone cannot be moved fr'om its Place by any Force, because the
Hoop and its Feet are one continued Piece with that Body of Adamant which
constitutes the Bottom of the Island.

"By means of this Load-stone the Island is made to rise and fall, and
move from one Place to another . For, with respect to that Part of the Earth
over which the Monarch presides, the Stone is endued at one of its Sides
with an attractive Power, and at the other with a repulsive. Upon placing
the Magnet erect with its attracting End towards the Earth, the Island
descends; but when the repelling Extremity points downwards, the Island
mounts directly upwards. When Ihe Position of the Stone is oblique, the
Motion of the Island is so too. For in this Magnet the Forces always act
in Lines parallel to its Direction.

KIGURE 77. The theory of Oight of Swift's
island

"By this oblique Motion the Island is conveyed to different Parts of the
Monarch's Dominions. To explain the Manner of its Progress, let (Figure
77) AB represent a line drawn across the Dominions of Balnibarbi; let the
Line cd represent the Load-stone, of which let d be the repelling End, and c

107

the attracting End, the Island being over C; let the Stone be placed in the
Position cd with its repelling End downwards; then the Island will be driven
upwards obliquely towards D. When it is arrived at D, let the Stone be
turned upon its Axle till its attracting End points towards E, and then the
Island will be carried obliquely towards E; where if the Stone be again
turned upon its Axle till it stands in the Position EF, with its repelling
point downwards, the Island will rise obliquely towards F, where by directing
the attracting End towards G, the Island may be carried to G, and from
G to H, by turning the Stone, so as to make its repelling Extremity point
directly downwards. And thus by changing the situation of the Stone as
often as there is Occasion, the Island is made to rise and fall by Turns in
an oblique Direction; and by those alternate Risings and Fallings (the
Obliquity being not considerable) is conveyed from one Part of the Dominions
to the other.

"When the Stone is put parallel to the Plane of the Horizon, the Island
standeth still; for in that Case, the Extremities of it being at equal Distance
from the Earth, act with equal Force, the one in drawing downwards, the other
in pushing upwards; and consequently no Motion can ensue."

Design of an interplanetary vehicle based on the movement
of heavy masses and reaction of the surroundings

Direction of
proposed flight

Pilot's scat

[■"irst moving
body

///////////' ' ' Earth' ■ '////////.

FIGURE 78. Flight with the help of move-
ment of masses

FIGURE 79. Tatarinov's flying
machine

In this design (Figure 78) the device is composed of two heavy spherical
masses. One is the lower and is fixed, with a mast attached to it. The
second is the upper, which with the help of the engine can slide up rapidly
and descend slowly. The difference in kinetic energies provides, as a
result, the tractive force directed upward. However, not to speak of a machine
of this kind contradicting Newton's law of the equality of action and reaction.

108

even if this vehicle succeeded in getting off the ground, if it chanced upon a
place where the force of the earth's attraction was zero, it would remain
there, since the center of gravity of the vehicle could not be moved, no matter
how its masses were to be arranged in it.

In order for the vehicle to be raised, it is necessary that while the engine
is working the lower body have some support that is independent of the
vehicle, for example, on the ground or in the surrounding medium, but in
such an event the vehicle would not be suitable for flying outside the earth's
atmosphere.

It is on this principle that V. V. Tatar inov's flying machine was built
(Figure 79). The idea consists of the following: the machine is composed
of two parts: the light but large area of parachute F, and the heavy but
small area of cylinder C. In cylinder C moves piston B with rod D which
rests on parachute F. The cylinder and parachute are joined by the taut
springs G. In order to ascend on such a vehicle (in the direction of the
arrow), an explosion occurs in A; since the reaction of the air during
movement of the parachute downward is very great in comparison with
reaction of the air during movement of the cylinder upward, the parachute
would appear to become similar to the immobile lower body of the previous
design. Body C, ascending after the explosion, draws near parachute F
shifting it slowly slightly upward. Repeating explosion after explosion we
obtain a shifting of the vehicle upward. To render movement of the parachute
downward difficult and to ease its movement upward, the automatic valves
E which open and let air through during movement upward and close during
movement downward, are installed. In addition, the parachute itself,
following along these lines, is convex above and concave below.

The movement of such a vehicle is, of course, possible only in a
comparatively dense medium, and consequently is unsuitable for inter-
planetary flights.

Interplanetary vehicle for communications between
Mars and its satellite Phobos

The French writers Le Faure and Graffigny, in their "Aventures
extraordinaires d'un savant russe" (1899), describe a vehicle on which the
inhabitants of Mars maintain communication with their satellites. Since
(in the opinion of the authors) there is an atmosphere between these planets,
and from Mars it is possible to create an artificial stream of air to any of
its satellites, the vehicle is constructed on the heavier-than-air principle
and is driven by a propeller (Figure 80).

There are two parts to the craft: a gondola for passengers below and an
engine above. The engine consists of a huge metal cylinder with a conical
front; it is around 160m long and 12 m in diameter. A pipe leads along
the entire length of the cylinder and inside the pipe there is the axis around
which the cylinder rotates; it is driven by strong electrical machines that
are located in the gondola; powerful propellers, 25 m in diameter, with a
pitch of 50 m, perform 5 rps and provide the ship with a speed of 700 km/hr.

109

Jet engine for a flight from Mars to Jupiter and Saturn

In this same work there is given a description of a vehicle in which
travelers fly from Mars to Jupiter (Figure 81). The vehicle is a metal
cylinder around 7 m long and 5 m in diameter. Inside the cylinder along
its axis there runs a pipe up to 1 /2 m in diameter; the front has a conical-
shaped tip and the back gradually widens. In the middle there rotates an
Archimedean screw driven by electricity. The principle of flight is as
follows: the travelers wait until Mars has fallen into the region of falling
stars — into the stream of asteroids and asteroidal masses borne in outer
space. After ascending and entering this mass, the passengers rotate the
screw. The screw sucks the mass in at the front and expels it at the back,
through which a jet action is obtained.

FKtURK 80. Le Faure's and C.raffigny's ship for a flight
from Mars to Phobo^

The space between the outer wall and the pipe is divided by two partitions,
vertical and horizontal, into four chambers: two upper and two lower. Three
of these chambers serve as cabins for the passengers and the fourth to
house the mechanisms and supplies. In addition there is a small compartment
near the propeller for the pilot. A six months' supply for the electric
accumulators and for food and respiration is taken on board.

On such a vehicle the travelers fly to Jupiter in the asteroidal stream,
and flying just short of the planet emerge from the stream and are carried
in a vacuum until they enter the atmosphere of Jupiter. This atmosphere
proves to be so dense that the vehicle floats in it like a balloon and then,
finally, finds itself in a hurricane, which carries the vehicle with such a
speed that the passengers can be carried on further and develop such a
centrifugal force as to plunge them back into the asteroida] stream, without
having had to land on the inhospitable surface of Jupiter, covered with fire-
spitting volcanoes and geysers. The vehicle flies on to Saturn and then
moored to a fragment of Tuttle's comet, they fly to earth.

110

I-i'iigitiidinal scrtion

Section along AH

^m. -'B - - -

FIC-tJRE 81. Faure and C-raffigily's vehicle for the flight from Mars to Jupiter

N. MOROZOV'S INTERPr.ANETARY SHIP

N. A. Morozov, in his book "At the Border of the Unknown" (1910),*
narrates of an imaginar'y flight in outer space taken by himself and some
of his fellow-prisoners from the Shlisselburg Fortress; their vehicle is
somewhat like the above-described vehicle of Graffigny. The flight, in
general, took place as follows:

"With unimaginable speed we flew higher and higher under the influence
of the powerful cylinders of our flying ship, driving through the ether,
and impelled by this, like the movement of tui'bines, our ship soared far
away from earth in an accelerated manner. . .

Morozov's companion (Polivanov) tries to sketch the perspective of the
pale green sickle of the far-away earth, radiant against the background of
the constellations of Orion and Gemini, .shining wonderfully in one of the
huge crystal windows in spite of the bright sunlight entering in slanting
streams at the opposite window of the ship.

"And tiine pa.ssed on. The ship rapidly approached the surface of the
moon. With each moment its pale disk, half illuminated by the sun, half
submerged in the deep night, emerged more distinctly. Soon it became
necessary to reverse the action of the engine in order to counteract
gradually the increased force of gravitation toward the moon. We were no
longer flying about the compartment but were slowly falling on its former
ceiling, now the floor of our compartment. The tinne had ai-rived to reverse
the ship, stern to the moon."

This fantasy [see p. 83] appeared first in manuscript form (1S91) and only later was It published.

Ill

£^'^^''^^lf^'^'^'^

FIGURE 82. The gods of the Mayas (Mexico) descend to earth from the sky on a spider's web (p. 22)
(the small circles are stars)

112

Further, the author describes his impressions of the flight and the
return to earth:

"Everything passed successfully. It was only towards the end of the
journey that we nearly broke our limbs from the unexpected jolt we
received on entering the earth's atmosphere, through not allowing for the
fact that the latter quickly moves from west to east as the result of the
rotary movement of the earth. This movement of air, in spite of its
rarefaction and altitude, thrust our ship so rapidly to one side that we were
thrown down, but suffered no ill effects. . . "

CONCLUSION

The ideas and fantasies in the preceding account are legendary, mythical,
satirical (Voltaire, Swift), and often religious. Those based on scientific
or technical knowledge are comparatively few. Of the latter Cyrano de
Bergerac's schemes must be singled out, notably his flights aided by rockets
and also under the influence of lunar attraction.

It is interesting to note the repetition of the idea of flight by the later
writers, influenced obviously by the earlier ones. For example, the idea
of a raagnet described by Swift (p. 105), is clearly inspired by the work of
Cyrano de Bergerac (p. 43); this is also repeated by Laurie (p. 104).
Tolstoi's ornithopter (p. lOO) is similar to Lyakide's (p. 99). Descriptions
of flights on comets and navigation between planets by balloons (p. 93) are
also repeated. In particular flights on horses (p. 53) and birds (p. 30) are
widespread. Most often one finds flights of man's soul or his astral
body.

At the dawn of civilization, when the understanding of topography and
perspective vision were unknown to man, people seeing. the sun, moon or
stars behind the trees and the rooftops of their homes thought that these
celestial bodies were actually close to those objects and that all that was
necessary was to climb on top of the trees and the rooftops in order to
reach the celestial lights.

For such methods of reaching them and describing them in legends, epics
and fairy tales, see Kalevala (p. 23), the story of the cat (p. 24), the night
before Christmas, etc. As knowledge on topography and perspective
increased and observations of the stars became more widely developed,
man began to realize that the stars were far more remote from earth. Tales
of flights to these bodies on birds, magic horses, wings, etc. appeared.
Then followed the idea of building flying machines, at first balloons and
planes, and finally, rockets, electric craft, missiles, etc.

In the next book of this series, "Mezhplanetnye soobshcheniya v
sovremennykh romanakh" (Interplanetary Communication in Modern
Novels) we present descriptions of flights on cosmic ships as modern
writers, under the influence of scientific and technical developments,
conceive of them.

113

NationalAeronau&sandSpaceAdministration ZZf^ "^^!^LTLo

WASHINGTON, D. C. 2os46 SPACE administration

OFFICIAL BUSINESS

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AIR FORCE WEAPONS LABORATORY /WLOL/
KIRTLAND AFB, NEW MEXICO 87117

ATT E. LOU BOWMANi CHIEF, TECH. LIBRARY

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Full text of "Interplanetary flight and communication. Volume 1 - No. 1 - Dreams, legends, and early fantasies"

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